Directors and Managers
For Washington State's Utilities and Transportation Commission, Kathy Hunter is Transportation Safety Director; Mathew Perkinson, is Assistant Director, Transportation Safety; and Evan Enright is Rail Safety Manager.
There is much going on at Washington's Utilities and Transportation Commission. Including implementation of the shiny new Clean Energy Transformation Act or CETA, requiring that state's electric utilities to transition to one hundred percent clean power by 2045. Signed into law last year, the devil is in the details, as here you hear Commission Staff grapple with the intricacies.
PUF: Kathy, as Transportation Safety Director, talk about your role at the Commission.
Kathy Hunter: I am the Transportation Safety Director and am also the state coordinator for the Washington Operation Lifesaver Program. My role is to ensure that our division runs smoothly, which can be a challenge given the nature of the work.
There are just over thirty full-time employees in the division and the sections include the Motor Carrier Safety, Rail Safety, Passenger, and Solid Waste Compliance programs, and our Licensing Services department.
Division Staff ensure that transportation companies are properly permitted and maintain required insurance. The safety departments ensure that jurisdictional transportation providers and railroads meet all relevant state and federal requirements.
In addition, division Staff investigates non-permitted companies, provide them technical assistance, and work with them to become permitted with the UTC.