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commissioned to complete the study shall rely on the best available 1 public data. 2 (d) The study must include a robust public engagement process 3 including local and state elected officials, labor groups, fence line 4 communities, port districts, economic development associations, and 5 environmental organizations in Skagit, Whatcom, and Pierce counties, 6 and the five Washington refineries. 7 (e) The department must offer early, meaningful, and individual 8 consultation with any affected Indian tribe for the purpose of 9 understanding potential impacts to tribal rights and resources 10 including cultural resources, archaeological sites, sacred sites, 11 fisheries, and human health. 12 (20)(a) The department of commerce and the utilities and 13 transportation commission must jointly convene a work group focused 14 on the future of net metering in Washington state. The work group 15 must include representatives from consumer-owned utilities, investor- 16 owned utilities, the commission, the rooftop solar industry 17 (including the Washington solar energy industries association), 18 agricultural farms in the business of producing crops for food and 19 fermented beverages, environmental justice advocates, clean energy 20 advocates including the northwest energy coalition, labor unions, 21 consumer advocates, the department of labor and industries, rural 22 communities including communities east of the crest of the Cascade 23 mountains, and federally recognized Indian tribes. 24 (i) The work group must report recommendations to the department 25 and the commission on what alternatives to net metering should be 26 considered by the legislature and when it is reasonable for these 27 alternatives to be implemented. The work group should take into 28 account the findings of the study required in (b) of this subsection 29 in its recommendations. The work group must be given at least 12 30 months to assemble recommendations after delivery of the study to the 31 work group. 32 (ii) As part of its recommendations, the work group must consider 33 the implications for the solar industry workforce, applicable labor 34 standards to include prevailing wage and apprenticeship utilization, 35 rate of deployment of consumer-owned solar and storage, future 36 electric load growth, reduction in utility income associated with 37 different levels of net metering, net metering system size, 38 appropriate timelines for notifying customers of rate or tariff 39 changes, the value of distributed solar resources in Washington 40 p. 102 ESSB 5187.SL