Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission

Subject to constitutional limitations, the power to regulate public service companies operating in the State of Washington is vested in the Legislature. Before the year 1905 the Legislature exercised this power, as the occasions required by the enactment of specific laws to deal with the most urgent regulatory problems that arose. As these problems multiplied in number and complexity with the passage of time, the ineffectiveness of regulation by direct legislation became more and more obvious. To correct the inherent defects of this method of procedure, the Legislature created the Railroad Commission of Washington in 1905, which initiated the practice followed ever since of regulating public service companies through the medium of a full-time administrative organization with discretionary authority sufficient to cope with specific problems promptly and effectively. The legal name given to the various regulatory agencies created by the Legislature has been changed from time to time between 1905 and 1949. The commission went through 6 name changes until the change to Washington Public Service Commission in 1949.