This bill amends RCW 47.01.505 to create a joint Oregon‑Washington legislative action committee to address construction of a new Interstate 5 bridge spanning the Columbia River. The committee is set at 16 members appointed by each state's house and senate leaders, must choose cochairs (the text states “one each from the senate and the house of representatives of both states”), and requires cooperation from executive agencies including the departments of transportation and the transportation commissions. Staff support is assigned to the Washington House office of program research and Washington Senate committee services, with Oregon legislative policy and research office staff contingent on Oregon’s acceptance. Legislative members are reimbursed for travel (Washington reimbursement per RCW 44.04.120) and committee expenses are paid jointly by both states’ senates and houses, with Washington expenditures subject to approval by the named legislative committees. Each committee meeting must allow public comment and follow the procedural requirements of both states’ senates and houses. The statute establishes several scheduling and reporting deadlines: the committee must convene its first meeting by December 15, 2017; provide a report with findings and recommendations to both legislatures by December 15, 2018 (including a recommendation on designation as a project of statewide significance or Oregon equivalent); and Washington members must report to the Washington legislature by August 1, 2022 describing the locally preferred alternative. The act expressly takes effect immediately as an emergency measure. The bill adds a procedural contract‑approval requirement: before entering new contracts or modifying existing contracts with the “existing general engineering consultant” that would increase payments or delay delivery dates for the interstate bridge replacement project, “the department” must disclose the proposed contract amount and modifications and obtain approval of the new contract or modification by an affirmative vote of a majority of the present members of the joint committee during a committee meeting. The text uses the terms “the department” and “existing general engineering consultant” without defining them in the provided excerpts, the cochairs phrase is potentially ambiguous, and the provided deadlines are in the past relative to the current session; the prior version of the statute and the current status of those deadlines are not shown in the extracted facts.

If enacted, the bill creates a 16-member Oregon‑Washington legislative committee to closely oversee planning and decision making for a new I‑5 Columbia River bridge. State transportation agencies and commissions would be required to cooperate with the committee and provide information, legislative staff from both states would support the committee, meetings must allow public comment, and the two legislatures would split committee expenses with Washington subject to internal committee approvals and travel reimbursements. The act also takes effect immediately, and it includes reporting deadlines the committee must meet (though those listed deadlines are already in the past and the text does not explain current status). The most affected parties are the Washington and Oregon departments of transportation, the existing general engineering consultant on the bridge project, and legislative staff and committees that will manage the work and pay expenses. Practically, agencies would face added legislative oversight and must disclose and obtain a majority vote of the joint committee before approving any contract changes that would raise payments or delay delivery dates for the existing engineering consultant, which is likely to reduce agencies’ flexibility to modify contracts quickly and could delay work or change cost timing. Key terms are unclear in the text provided—specifically which “department” must seek approval and who exactly counts as the “existing general engineering consultant”—so implementation could require further clarification and may cause additional administrative delay.