Last week was a busy one down in Olympia. On Wednesday the Senate held a hearing on their unveiled transportation proposal, Senate Bill 5987. This complex piece of legislation is a 12 cent gas tax that translates into a 14 billion dollar proposal over the next 16 years. We testified to the legislation with concerns, here is what we had to say:
“We support a transportation revenue package. We believe that investing in our transportation infrastructure is crucial to keeping our state’s economy and people moving. Thank you for bringing forward a package. I’d like a make a few comments of concern:
- We echo the consternation of our partners in labor and the environment over politicizing our transportation investments. We strongly recommend divorcing the prevailing wage and clean fuels debate from this package.
- Congestion is getting worse in the Puget Sound, more and more people are choosing transit and polling indicates there is strong support for Sound Transit expansion. Any package that passes the legislature must give the Puget Sound the full authority to tax themselves and complete the light rail spine to Tacoma and Everett and boost regional transit services. This proposal will cost the state $0 and immensely benefit the state’s transportation system as our region continues to grow.
- 5% for transit and over a billion dollars for highway maintenance is a good start, but we can do better. We recommend boosting the direct transit spending and state preservation amounts to better reflect shifting travel preferences, our state’s transportation goals, and the immense roadway maintenance needs. “
A bit more context for you:
- The current proposal has a “poison pill” in it that defunds all the multi-modal (read non-highway) accounts if the governor signs a low-carbon fuels standard. This is wonky stuff but it is basically a political trick to tie the Governor’s hand to sign an executive order on clean fuels, which is a useful strategy for reducing transportation emissions.
- We were happy to see some ST3 authority in the proposal, but it only included 2/3rds of the revenue authority that Sound Transit asked for. This is unacceptable and any final package must give the full authority.
- Lastly, 3.5% for transit and less than 10% for roadway maintenance is too low. As budget documents should align with our state’s policy priorities, the final proposal must do better.
On Thursday the bill was exceed out of committee with two democrats joining the bulk of the Republicans in support of the proposal. If you want to watch the marathon session (nerd alert) you can on TVW.
The bill (and the bills associated with the package) now move onto Senate rules and then the floor. Word is that a vote could come as early as this week in the Senate. From there it would be kicked over to the house for debate.
Tune in next week for the next installment of the the ever-changing Olympia transportation saga!
