43.52.374 - Operating agency executive board -- Members -- Terms -- Removal -- Rules -- Proceedings -- Managing director -- Civil immunities -- Defense and indemnification. - Washington Statutes

Operating agency executive board — Members — Terms — Removal — Rules — Proceedings — Managing director — Civil immunities — Defense and indemnification.

(1) With the exception of the powers and duties of the board of directors described in RCW 43.52.370(2), the management and control of an operating agency constructing, operating, terminating, or decommissioning a nuclear power plant under a site certification agreement under chapter 80.50 RCW is vested in an executive board established under this subsection and consisting of eleven members.

     (a) Five members of the executive board shall be elected to four-year terms by the board of directors from among the members of the board of directors. The board of directors may provide by rule for the composition of the five members of the executive board elected from among the members of the board of directors so as to reflect the member public utility districts' and cities' participation in the joint operating agency's projects. Members elected to the executive board from the board of directors are ineligible for continued membership on the executive board if they cease to be members of the board of directors. The board of directors may also provide by rule for the removal of a member of the executive board, except for the outside directors. Members of the board of directors may be elected to serve successive terms on the executive board. Members elected to the executive board from the board of directors shall receive a salary from the operating agency at a rate set by the board of directors.

     (b) Six members of the executive board shall be outside directors. Three shall be selected and appointed by the board of directors, and three shall be selected and appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. All outside directors shall:

     (i) Serve four-year terms on the executive board. However, of the initial members of the executive board, the board of directors and the governor shall each appoint one outside director to serve a two-year term, one outside director to serve a three-year term, and one outside director to serve a four-year term. Thereafter, all outside directors shall be appointed for four-year terms. All outside directors are eligible for reappointment;

     (ii) Receive travel expenses on the same basis as the five members elected from the board of directors. The outside directors shall also receive a salary from the operating agency as fixed by the governor;

     (iii) Not be an officer or employee of, or in any way affiliated with, the Bonneville power administration or any electric utility conducting business in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, or Montana;

     (iv) Not be involved in the financial affairs of the operating agency as an underwriter or financial adviser of the operating agency or any of its members or any of the participants in any of the operating agency's plants; and

     (v) Be representative of policymakers in business, finance, or science, or have expertise in the construction or management of such facilities as the operating agency is constructing or operating, or have expertise in the termination, disposition, or liquidation of corporate assets.

     (c) The governor may remove outside directors from the executive board for incompetency, misconduct, or malfeasance in office in the same manner as state appointive officers under chapter 43.06 RCW. For purposes of this subsection, misconduct shall include, but not be limited to, nonfeasance and misfeasance.

     (2) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to mean that an operating agency is in any manner an agency of the state. Nothing in this chapter alters or destroys the status of an operating agency as a separate municipal corporation or makes the state liable in any way or to any extent for any preexisting or future debt of the operating agency or any present or future claim against the agency.

     (3) The eleven members of the executive board shall be selected with the objective of establishing an executive board which has the resources to effectively carry out its responsibilities. All members of the executive board shall conduct their business in a manner which in their judgment is in the interest of all ratepayers affected by the joint operating agency and its projects.

     (4) The executive board shall elect from its members a chair, vice chair, and secretary, who shall serve at the pleasure of the executive board. The executive board shall adopt rules for the conduct of its meetings and the carrying out of its business. All proceedings shall be by motion or resolution and shall be recorded in the minute book, which shall be a public record. A majority of the executive board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

     (5) With respect to any operating agency existing on April 20, 1982, to which the provisions of this section are applicable:

     (a) The board of directors shall elect five members to the executive board no later than sixty days after April 20, 1982; and

     (b) The board of directors and the governor shall select and appoint the initial outside directors and the executive board shall hold its organizational meeting no later than sixty days after April 20, 1982, and the powers and duties prescribed in this chapter shall devolve upon the executive board at that time.

     (6) The executive board shall select and employ a managing director of the operating agency and may delegate to the managing director such authority for the management and control of the operating agency as the executive board deems appropriate. The managing director's employment is terminable at the will of the executive board.

     (7) Members of the executive board shall be immune from civil liability for mistakes and errors of judgment in the good faith performance of acts within the scope of their official duties involving the exercise of judgment and discretion. This grant of immunity shall not be construed as modifying the liability of the operating agency.

     The operating agency shall undertake the defense of and indemnify each executive board member made a party to any civil proceeding including any threatened, pending, or completed action, suit, or proceeding, whether civil, administrative, or investigative, by reason of the fact he or she is or was a member of the executive board, against judgments, penalties, fines, settlements, and reasonable expenses, actually incurred by him or her in connection with such proceeding if he or she had conducted himself or herself in good faith and reasonably believed his or her conduct to be in the best interest of the operating agency.

     In addition members of the executive board who are utility employees shall not be fired, forced to resign, or demoted from their utility jobs for decisions they make while carrying out their duties as members of the executive board involving the exercise of judgment and discretion.

[2009 c 549 § 5136; 1983 1st ex.s. c 3 § 3; 1982 1st ex.s. c 43 § 3; 1981 1st ex.s. c 3 § 2.]

Notes: Severability -- 1982 1st ex.s. c 43: "If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected." [1982 1st ex.s. c 43 § 11.]

Savings -- 1982 1st ex.s. c 43: "(1) All personnel and employees of a board of directors or executive board or committee displaced by section 3 of this act shall become personnel and employees of the executive board created in section 3 of this act without any loss of rights, subject to any appropriate action thereafter.

     (2) All pending business before a board of directors or executive board or committee which is replaced by the executive board created in section 3 of this act shall be continued and acted upon by the new executive board.

     (3) This act shall not be construed to alter:

     (a) Any existing rights acquired under laws relating to operating agencies;

     (b) The status of any actions, activities, or civil or criminal proceedings of any existing operating agencies;

     (c) The status of any collective bargaining agreements, indebtedness, contracts, or other obligations;

     (d) Any valid resolutions, covenants, or agreements between an operating agency and members, participants in any electric generating facility, privately owned public utilities, or agencies of the federal government; or

     (e) Any rules, resolutions, or orders adopted by a board of directors or executive board or committee until canceled or superseded." [1982 1st ex.s. c 43 § 4.]