Governor Christine Gregoire has signed a law which, among other things, provides "repose" for the Seattle Monorail Project.

This is another major milestone in the work undertaken after the November 2005 election to close down the agency.

Because governments rarely go out of business, there are usually no laws or guidelines that speak to the dissolution processes, which are similar to laws that govern bankruptcy and dissolution proceedings.

For private businesses, the law provides a roadmap for shutting down the monorail and creates finality and certainty to Seattle taxpayers that the Seattle Monorail Project no longer exists. It also protects taxpayers from any liabilities and obligations that may arise once the agency is dissolved, and for this reason, the current board of directors remains in place, eliminating the need for and cost of elections for board seats.

The new law will become effective 90 days following the governor's signature.

Monorail is still engaged in two lawsuits, both on appeal to the Washington Supreme Court. The court has discretion over whether to take those appeals and monorail has urged the court to let the lower rulings stand. If there is resolution to the two legal cases by the Supreme Court within the next 90 days, there will be a final Seattle Monorail Project board meeting to formally dissolve and terminate the agency as soon as the new law becomes effective. If the Supreme Court requires more than 90 days to resolve the two cases, the monorail board will meet immediately following the resolution of these two cases by the Supreme Court.

"We are pleased to have reached another important milestone and thank the Legislature and the governor for providing this important legislation," said Beth Goldberg, monorail board chairwoman.