Washington Administrative Code

The purpose of the professional development hours requirement is to encourage licensed on-site wastewater treatment system designers (designers), under chapter 18.210 RCW, to maintain competency in their practice. All designers must meet these requirements as a condition of conti…

Terms used in this chapter are defined as follows:(1) Professional development hour (PDH) - An hour engaged in a qualifying activity.(2) College/unit semester/quarter hour - Completion of courses in college level curriculums satisfactory to the board.(3) Qualifying activity - Any…

All designers wishing to maintain active practice must accumulate thirty PDH for any given two-year period. The PDH accumulated by designers are subject to audit by the board.[Statutory Authority: Chapters 18.43 and 18.210 RCW. WSR 12-09-008, § 196-34-110, filed 4/5/12, effective…

The board believes that designers under provisions of chapter 18.210 RCW should have the discretion to make independent choices on what activities help them to be improved practitioners. The board will not provide advance approvals for selected activities or vendors. The board ex…

Qualifying activities earned and applied to one of the following categories may not be applied to another category.1. College hours: a. Completion of 1 college semester hour45 PDHb. Completion of 1 college quarter hour30 PDH2. For publication or presentation of each: a. Authored …

The following are not considered qualifying activities:(1) Taking courses, specialized instruction or meeting performance criteria that were conditions of a board order.(2) Attendance or testimony at legislative hearings.(3) Attendance or testimony at city or county council meeti…

The board is the final authority with respect to claimed qualifying activities and the respective PDH credit. Qualifying activity becomes eligible for credit upon completion of the given activity.[Statutory Authority: Chapters 18.43 and 18.210 RCW. WSR 12-09-008, § 196-34-130, fi…

The designer is responsible for maintaining records to be used to support credits claimed. Records should include date of activity, instructor's name, description of activity, number of contact hours and location. The designer is required to keep their records of professional dev…

(1) A designer who fails to comply with the requirements of this chapter is subject to disciplinary action by the board.(2) A designer who, through the course of an audit, is discovered to have falsified professional development documentation to the board is subject to disciplina…

The board may grant a waiver to the time requirement for collection of professional development to designers who qualify. A request for a waiver must be made in writing and clearly state the justification and include any necessary documentation required by the board. All waivers …

Designers who have been approved for "Inactive Status" as provided in WAC 196-34-155 are exempt from the requirement of collecting professional development hours.[Statutory Authority: Chapters 18.43 and 18.210 RCW. WSR 12-09-008, § 196-34-150, filed 4/5/12, effective 5/6/12. Stat…

Any designer who signs a board approved affirmation that they are not engaged in the practice as an on-site wastewater treatment system designer is eligible for inactive status. Those with inactive status are prohibited from any practice as an on-site wastewater treatment system …

The professional development requirements, as provided for in this chapter, may be satisfied when the board can verify that a designer has satisfied professional development requirements in another jurisdiction recognized by the board, as being equivalent to the requirements of t…

These rules are promulgated under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), chapter 43.21C RCW. RCW 43.21C.110 specifies the content of these rules and grants authority for promulgation. As required in RCW 43.21C.095, these rules shall be given substantial deference in the inter…

(1) The purpose of these rules is to establish uniform requirements for compliance with SEPA. Each agency must have its own SEPA procedures consistent with these statewide rules. The effective date of these rules is stated in WAC 197-11-955.(2) These rules replace the previous gu…

(1) The policies and goals set forth in SEPA are supplementary to existing agency authority.(2) Agencies shall to the fullest extent possible:(a) Interpret and administer the policies, regulations, and laws of the state of Washington in accordance with the policies set forth in S…

The terms used in these rules are explained in Part Eight, Definitions, WAC 197-11-700 to 197-11-799. This terminology shall be uniform throughout the state as applied to SEPA, chapter 43.21C RCW. References in these rules to WAC 197-11 refer to chapter WAC 197-11 of the Washingt…

(1) A lead agency shall be designated when an agency is developing or is presented with a proposal, following the rules beginning at WAC 197-11-922.(2) The lead agency shall be the agency with main responsibility for complying with SEPA's procedural requirements and shall be the …

(1) Integrating SEPA and agency activities. The SEPA process shall be integrated with agency activities at the earliest possible time to ensure that planning and decisions reflect environmental values, to avoid delays later in the process, and to seek to resolve potential problem…

(1) Environmental review consists of the range of proposed activities, alternatives, and impacts to be analyzed in an environmental document, in accordance with SEPA's goals and policies. This section specifies the content of environmental review common to all environmental docum…

(1) Until the responsible official issues a final determination of nonsignificance or final environmental impact statement, no action concerning the proposal shall be taken by a governmental agency that would:(a) Have an adverse environmental impact; or(b) Limit the choice of rea…

(1) If information on significant adverse impacts essential to a reasoned choice among alternatives is not known, and the costs of obtaining it are not exorbitant, agencies shall obtain and include the information in their environmental documents.(2) When there are gaps in releva…

If an agency prepares background or supporting analyses, studies, or technical reports, such material shall be considered part of the agency's record of compliance with SEPA, as long as the preparation and circulation of such material complies with the requirements in these rules…

Further information may be required if the responsible official determines that the information initially supplied is not reasonably adequate to fulfill the purposes for which it is required. An applicant may, at any time, voluntarily submit information beyond that required under…

(1) In reviewing the environmental impacts of a project and making a threshold determination, a GMA county/city may, at its option, determine that the requirements for environmental analysis, protection, and mitigation measures in the GMA county/city's development regulations and…

(1) Under RCW 43.21C.440, GMA counties/cities may designate a planned action. A planned action means one or more types of project action that:(a) Are designated planned actions by an ordinance or resolution adopted by a GMA county/city;(b) In conjunction with, or to implement, a …

(1) If a GMA county/city chooses to designate a planned action, the planned action must be designated by ordinance or resolution. Public notice and opportunity for public comment shall be provided as part of the agency's process for adopting the ordinance or resolution.(2) The or…

(1) Review of a project proposed as a planned action is intended to be simpler and more focused than for other projects. A project proposed as a planned action must qualify as the planned action designated in the planned action ordinance or resolution, and must meet the statutory…

(1) The purpose of WAC 197-11-210 through 197-11-235 is to authorize GMA counties/cities to integrate the requirements of SEPA and the Growth Management Act (GMA) to ensure that environmental analyses under SEPA can occur concurrently with and as an integral part of the planning …

For purposes of SEPA:(1) "Formal SEPA documents" mean:(a) A nonproject environmental checklist/DNS;(b) A notice of adoption with or without an addendum;(c) An addendum;(d) An EIS; or(e) An integrated GMA document.(2) "GMA" means the Growth Management Act, chapter 36.70A RCW and t…

(1) "Joint process." GMA jurisdictions are authorized to combine SEPA and GMA processes and analyses and to issue combined documents.(2) "Phasing and level of detail." To integrate SEPA and GMA:(a) The appropriate scope and level of detail of environmental review should be tailor…

(1) A formal SEPA document (which may be a draft integrated GMA document under WAC 197-11-235):(a) Shall be prepared and issued no later than the time that a proposed GMA action is issued for public and interagency review. For comprehensive plans and development regulations, the …

(1) "Preliminary environmental analyses." GMA jurisdictions may prepare environmental analyses for use by decision makers and the public to assist in developing and reviewing preliminary drafts of GMA documents. Environmental analyses prepared for use in such preliminary GMA plan…

(1) "Integrating documents." Formal SEPA documents may be prepared as companion documents to accompany proposed GMA actions or may be integrated into the documentation of GMA actions. This section clarifies how WAC 197-11-640 (all SEPA documents) and WAC 197-11-425 through 197-11…

Monitoring information is important to maintain the usefulness of the environmental analysis in plans and development regulations for project-level review and to update plans under chapter 36.70A RCW. GMA counties/cities are encouraged to establish a process for monitoring the cu…

(1) WAC 197-11-253 through 197-11-268 integrate the procedural requirements and documents of this chapter with those required under the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), chapter 70.105D RCW, and chapter 173-340 WAC.(2) Both MTCA and SEPA provide opportunities for early public revi…

(1) The lead agency should be determined as soon as possible after ecology has identified the PLPs for a facility and must be identified prior to issuing an order, agreed order, or consent decree, or prior to issuing the scope of work for an ecology conducted remedial action.(2) …

(1) Prior to conducting a RI/FS under MTCA (WAC 173-340-350), the lead agency shall evaluate the available information on the hazardous substances at the facility and take one of the following steps:(a) Make a preliminary decision that the remedial action is unlikely to have a pr…

(1) If the remedial action will not have a probable significant adverse environmental impact, a DNS shall be issued no earlier than the RI/FS and no later than the draft cleanup action plan. If the lead agency made a preliminary decision under WAC 197-11-256 (1)(a) that a DS was …

(1) The following applies to remedial actions that will have a probable significant adverse environmental impact.(2) If the preliminary evaluation in WAC 197-11-256 results in a determination of significance, the scoping notice may be combined with either the MTCA public review p…

(1) The purpose of early scoping is to identify possible environmental issues prior to making a threshold determination. If early scoping is used and a determination of significance is issued later in the process, no additional SEPA scoping is required.(2) If, after the prelimina…

The following shall apply when an interim action (WAC 173-340-430) is conducted as part of a remedial action conducted by ecology, or by a potentially liable person under an order, agreed order, or consent decree under MTCA.(1) If the interim action will not have a probable signi…

This part provides rules for:(1) Administering categorical exemptions for proposals that would not have probable significant adverse impacts;(2) Deciding whether a proposal has a probable significant adverse impact and thus requires an EIS (the threshold determination);(3) Provid…

(1) If a proposal fits within any of the provisions in Part Nine of these rules, the proposal shall be categorically exempt from threshold determination requirements (WAC 197-11-720) except as follows:(a) The proposal is not exempt under WAC 197-11-908, critical areas.(b) The pro…

(1) A threshold determination is required for any proposal which meets the definition of action and is not categorically exempt, subject to the limitations in WAC 197-11-600(3) concerning proposals for which a threshold determination has already been issued, or statutorily exempt…

(1) Agencies shall use the environmental checklist substantially in the form found in WAC 197-11-960 to assist in making threshold determinations for proposals, except for:(a) Public proposals on which the lead agency has decided to prepare its own EIS; or(b) Proposals on which t…

An EIS is required for proposals for legislation and other major actions significantly affecting the quality of the environment. The lead agency decides whether an EIS is required in the threshold determination process, as described below.(1) In making a threshold determination, …

The lead agency shall make its threshold determination based upon information reasonably sufficient to evaluate the environmental impact of a proposal (WAC 197-11-055(2) and 197-11-060(3)). The lead agency may take one or more of the following actions if, after reviewing the chec…

(1) If the responsible official determines there will be no probable significant adverse environmental impacts from a proposal, the lead agency shall prepare and issue a determination of nonsignificance (DNS) substantially in the form provided in WAC 197-11-970. If an agency adop…

The purpose of this section is to allow clarifications or changes to a proposal prior to making the threshold determination.(1) In making threshold determinations, an agency may consider mitigation measures that the agency or applicant will implement.(2) After submission of an en…