The 2014 short legislative session was a quiet and mostly uneventful tale for transportation. Despite the desire of the governor and house to pass a comprehensive transportation bill, the cantankerous state senate did not take up the task, and a comprehensive transportation investment bill frankly did not have much momentum.
Thanks to this legislative inaction, many of our unfunded transportation priorities remain unmet. Bus service across the state, particularly in the Puget Sound, remains underfunded. Too many roads, ranging from rural highways to neighborhood streets, are in a state of disrepair. Demand for popular programs such as complete streets and safe routes to schools remains far greater than current funding. Ultimately, the multi-billion dollar needs to maintain our roads, preserve (much less expand) transit, and make our communities safe, remains ignored and unfunded.
Despite legislative inaction, King Country has thankfully decided to send an emergency measure—using existing taxing authority—to voters to stave off massive bus cuts to the state’s largest transit agency. (Side note, if you live in King County, vote YES on Prop 1 on April 22nd, and to volunteer to help pass the measure!)
Funding aside, there were a few other notable wins and defensive victories in this year’s short session.
First and foremost, working with our business and agency partners, we stopped an egregious attack on Washington’s model commute trip reduction (CTR) law. Employers receive a modest tax credit when they participate in our state’s CTR program. In return, they provide transit passes and ridesharing opportunities to employees, and keep thousands of cars off our state’s congested roads every day. Legislators attempted to repeal this tax credit, and thanks to your help, we stopped this backwards attack.
We were also successful in extending $6 million dollars in transit mitigation funds from the Alaska Way Viaduct replacement project. These state funds allow King County Metro to continue to provide much-needed bus service in the corridor during the ongoing waterfront construction.
Both the viaduct mitigation and CTR wins were only temporary funding extensions of these important programs through 2015. We’ll be back in Olympia working our tails off to save these important programs next year.
The need to save and restore transit service across the state is dire. Washingtonians want more transit and transportation choices, not less. Unfortunately, the 2014 legislature did not step up to meet that demand. Stay tuned as we gear up and plan for the 2015 legislative session. It is expected that the operations budget and education funding will suck a lot of the oxygen out of the halls of the legislature. That doesn’t mean we won’t be there, standing with all of you to fight for fair transit funding and innovative policies that will make our communities stronger, healthier, more connected, and simply better places to live.
