Tri-Cities Washington Regional Government: Kennewick, Pasco, Richland

The Tri-Cities region of southeastern Washington encompasses three cities — Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland — that function as distinct municipal governments while sharing infrastructure, economic planning, and service delivery through a dense web of interlocal agreements and regional bodies. Together, these cities anchor Benton and Franklin counties and form one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in Washington State. This page covers how each city governs itself, how they coordinate regionally, the scenarios that most frequently bring residents into contact with Tri-Cities governmental structures, and the boundaries that define what this regional arrangement covers versus what falls outside its authority.

Definition and scope

The Tri-Cities is not a single consolidated government. Each of the three cities operates under Washington's general-purpose municipal government framework, established through RCW Title 35 for code cities and RCW Title 35A for optional municipal code cities. Richland and Kennewick operate as code cities under RCW 35A, giving them broad home-rule authority to structure their own governance. Pasco operates as a non-charter code city, also under RCW 35A.

Each city maintains its own planning department, public works, municipal court, police department, and utility systems. The regional coordination that binds them operates through separate bodies rather than a single merged authority.

Scope and coverage: This page addresses the governmental structures of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland as municipal entities and their shared regional mechanisms. It does not cover unincorporated Benton County governance, Franklin County governance as a county body, or the operations of the Hanford Site itself, which falls under federal jurisdiction administered by the U.S. Department of Energy and is not subject to city or county land-use authority. State law applicable to all three cities originates from Olympia and is documented across the Washington State Legislature's published statutory code.

How it works

Regional coordination among the three cities operates through at least 4 distinct institutional mechanisms:

  1. Tri-Cities Regional Council / Ben-Franklin Transit — Ben-Franklin Transit (BFT) is a public transit agency serving both Benton and Franklin counties, operating under RCW 36.57A as a public transportation benefit area (PTBA). Its board includes representatives from both counties and all three cities. BFT operates fixed-route bus service, paratransit, and vanpool programs across the metro area.

  2. Benton-Franklin Council of Governments (BFCOG) — The Benton-Franklin Council of Governments serves as the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the region, a designation required under federal transportation law (23 U.S.C. § 134) for urbanized areas exceeding 50,000 population. BFCOG coordinates transportation planning, land use data, and federal grant applications across both counties and all three cities.

  3. Kennewick-Pasco-Richland Interlocal Agreements — The cities enter into interlocal agreements authorized under RCW 39.34, the Interlocal Cooperation Act. These agreements govern shared services including hazardous materials response through the Tri-City Special Hazmat Response Team and joint animal control operations.

  4. Port Authorities — Two port districts operate within the Tri-Cities: the Port of Kennewick and the Port of Pasco, both governed under Washington's port authority structure. Ports hold authority over industrial land development, waterfront access, and economic development incentives independent of city councils.

Each city adopts its own annual budget, comprehensive plan, and zoning code. Coordination through BFCOG does not override individual city land-use decisions; it produces advisory planning documents and distributes federal transportation funding.

Common scenarios

Residents and businesses most frequently encounter Tri-Cities governmental structures in the following situations:

Permitting and land use: Building permits, conditional use applications, and subdivision approvals are handled separately by each city's planning and community development department. A development project straddling the Kennewick-Richland boundary must satisfy permitting requirements from both jurisdictions independently.

Water and utility service: Each city operates its own water system. Richland draws from the Columbia River and manages its own treatment plant. Kennewick and Pasco operate separate utility districts. Residents must direct billing, outage, and infrastructure questions to the specific city whose service territory covers their address.

Transit access: Bus service questions, route information, and paratransit eligibility all route through Ben-Franklin Transit regardless of which of the three cities a rider lives in.

Emergency management: The cities coordinate emergency preparedness with Benton County Emergency Management and Franklin County Emergency Management, both of which connect upward to the Washington Military Department's Emergency Management Division under RCW 38.52.

Economic development and port activity: Businesses seeking industrial site locations or port facilities work with the Port of Kennewick or Port of Pasco as the controlling authority, not the city councils, for waterfront and industrial land transactions.

Decision boundaries

Understanding which body holds authority over a given decision is essential to navigating Tri-Cities governance. The following distinctions apply consistently:

City council vs. county commission: Each city governs its incorporated area. Unincorporated land surrounding Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland falls under Benton County Commission or Franklin County Commission authority, not city jurisdiction. Annexation proceedings, governed by RCW 35A.14, shift land from county to city authority.

City government vs. federal Hanford jurisdiction: The Hanford Site's approximately 580 square miles are federally controlled. The U.S. Department of Energy, not Richland or Benton County, controls land use, environmental remediation priorities, and facility operations on the site. The cities receive substantial economic benefit from Hanford employment and tax base, but hold no land-use authority over federal property.

Regional advisory vs. binding city authority: BFCOG produces regional transportation plans and distributes federal Surface Transportation Program funds, but cannot compel a city to adopt specific zoning or project designs. City councils retain final authority over local land-use decisions within their limits.

State preemption: Washington State law preempts city authority in multiple domains. For example, cities cannot set minimum wage laws below state thresholds established under RCW 49.46, and public utility rate structures are subject to oversight by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for investor-owned utilities.

For a broader orientation to how Washington's government structures interact at every level, the home reference index provides a structured overview of state, county, and municipal governance relationships across Washington State.

References

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