(1) The department shall offer training to assist local governments in understanding findings of noncompliance from the growth management hearings board pursuant to RCW 36.70A.300 and 36.70A.330 and applying prior decisions of the board to ongoing planning efforts to avoid findings of noncompliance.

(2) The department may award grants to a public agency with appropriate expertise and funded by local governments to provide the training required in subsection (1) of this section.

(3) The training provided in subsection (1) of this section is limited to counties that are largely rural.