Last week was a wild one Olympia. Where do we even start?

“Hurry up and wait” is a phrase that is often used in Olympia. Through the legislative process we often encounter crises, we run around putting fires out, and then wait around for the legislative process to catch up. Last week was a perfect example of this in many ways.

The focus of the week was the state transportation proposal. Most of the week was waiting around for, preparing, and trying to impact the Senate floor debates, but the proposal did not come to the floor until Friday and that’s where things got wild!

Here’s the rundown:

 

The Democrats tried to push amendments on the proposal, both of which we strongly supported. Here is an email we sent to the Senate prior to the votes on these important amendments:

“I urge you to vote yes on Amendment FROC S2202.1 to Senate Bill 5987 to give Sound Transit full funding authority. An investment in continued Sound Transit expansion will greatly assist the state’s congested transportation system in the Puget Sound region at a cost of zero dollars to the state. It will also grow our economy and help millions of residents get around. Please vote yes.

We also strongly support the proposed striker amendment NELS s2045.2. Transportation Choices believes investing in our state’s transportation infrastructure should be divorced from clean fuels and other policy debates.”

Unfortunately both of these proposals were voted down by 26-23 along partisan lines.

But that’s where things really got interesting.

Check out Publicola for all the wonky parliamentary drama, but in short, as final package of the transportation proposal came to the floor Democrat Annette Cleveland pulled some legislative tricks out of her hat. She called to question whether this proposal required a 2/3 vote approval because of an anti-tax rule the Republicans had passed early on in the session. Things blew up and the Senate was unexpectedly adjourned. Everyone went home for the weekend, which brings us to Monday…

The Lt. Governor ruled that the 2/3 rule applied to the transportation proposal. However, he also said he could not enforce the rule because it was unconstitutional. Suddenly, this has become about so much more than just a “little” 14 billion dollar transportation package.

Perhaps, for this chapter, the Republicans won the battle but lost the war. Their transportation proposal could move forward with a simple majority, but now confirmed that their 2/3 rule for new taxes is unenforceable.

Parliamentary intrigue aside, the proposal was put to a vote. As most big legislative votes go, there were a lot of speeches, some of them were awesome, some of them were infuriating, and others were quickly forgotten. The proposal passed on Monday by a vote of 27-22. Democrats who voted for it were Senators Darneille, Conway, Hatfield, Hobbs, Liias, Pedersen, and Mullet. The republicans mostly voted as a united block with the exception of anti-tax republicans voting no: Senators Benton, Dansel, Ericksen, Padden, Pearson, and Roach.

Think that’s the end of the story?

As this package heads over to the house, there is a ton of work to do. Sound Transit authority and state transit investments are critical, so we are glad this conversation has been officially started by the Senate. But to call this proposal imperfect would be a gross understatement, it is flawed and needs major revisions.

We insist that any transportation investment that passes the Legislature must include:

  • The ability for Sound Transit to keep up with ridership across the region demanding a world-class transit system
  • Boost state funding for transit, allowing all Washingtonians the opportunity for more transportation choices.
  • Stop politicizing our environment. We need more transportation options and clean air.  Remove the provision that pits transit funding  against clean fuels. They are not political trading cards.

On top of these top priorities we are also concerned about:

  • Not enough money toward fixing it first. Our infrastructure is literally crumbling, and this package doesn’t fund anywhere near enough toward maintenance and preservation of our current roads.
  • The currents state ofSenate Bill 5994, which is focused on permitting reforms, has major challenges including grotesque environmental review exemptions.
  • The sales tax exemption on transportation projects pits transportation against general fund priorities, a move we also do not support.

 

The legislative process is a long one. This is only the first step in discussions around a transportation proposal in Olympia. We will continue to work hard and will need your help to ensure that any transportation proposal that reaches the governor’s desk is one that works for all of us.

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