A legislative audit committee has issued a report stating that that the Puget Sound Partnership has failed to meet Legislative directives for the restoration of Puget Sound. This report will likely spur the Partnership to move more quickly toward taking concrete action, including advocating for stricter development regulations.

In 2007, the Legislature created the Puget Sound Partnership, a state agency charged with coordinating and leading the effort to restore Puget Sound by 2020. The Partnership was tasked with creating an “Action Agenda” for restoring the Sound.

On September 21, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) released a preliminary report stating that the Action Agenda failed to meet key accountability directives from the Legislature, including the following: failing to include benchmarks describing a restored Sound in 202; failing to clearly link actions to the goals and objectives in statute; failing to describe actions in sufficient detail or prioritize them; and failing to establish a transparent system for monitoring and reporting progress in restoring the Sound.  The report also provides specific recommendations for reporting to address the Legislature’s need for “assurance” that the Partnership is back on track.

The JLARC report does not recommend specific actions by the Partnership, but Appendix 4 to the report provides examples of actions that could be taken to further the Partnership’s goals, including actions to focus more growth in urban areas, to reduce stormwater contaminants, and to ensure that new development and re-development are “more ecologically sensitive.”