Dear friends,
There are just a couple weeks left in the Washington State Legislative Session, and lawmakers are working to finalize the budgets and all the bills they will move forward this year. Tomorrow, April 16th, is the opposite chamber cutoff, meaning bills that have passed one chamber must also now pass the other chamber or they are considered dead. Those that do pass will move on to Governor Ferguson to sign!
What’s Happening with Key Bills We Support?
We’re excited to share that one of the bills we’ve been supporting is now on its way to the Governor’s desk:
- A bill to remove driver’s license requirements from certain job postings (SB 5501). This will ensure that if a job doesn’t require driving, the job can’t require applicants to have a driver’s license. It will open up more job opportunities to non-drivers and people who choose not to have a license for any reason.
And a couple others have passed both chambers but are awaiting final sign off from the Senate, or “concurrence” to agree on the exact wording of the bill:
- A bill establishing shared streets (SB 5595). This would legalize a type of street where cars are allowed, but pedestrians are the priority, and the speed limit is 10 mph. In Seattle, some of these popped up as Healthy Streets during the pandemic, but state law still requires cars to have priority unless a street is closed. This bill would allow cities to create more streets like these with less confusion. Read more about shared streets here.
- A bill concerning minimum parking requirements (SB 5184). This bill would limit parking minimums as a requirement for development. Read more about it from our friends at The Urbanist here.
Other bills are still awaiting a vote today or tomorrow, including:
- A bill to encourage transit-oriented housing development (HB 1491). This would require cities to allow more dense housing development near light rail and bus rapid transit stops.
- A bill to implement safe system approach strategies for active transportation infrastructure (SB 5581). This would help prioritize active transportation in WSDOT construction projects and programs by integrating shared-use paths, trails, roundabouts and Complete Streets principles.
Check out our Bill Tracker for the status of all the bills we’re tracking.
What’s Happening with the Budgets?
Legislators are continuing to work on the operating, capital, and transportation budgets. Governor Ferguson held a press conference a couple of weeks ago stressing concerns with some of the revenue ideas. So it seems likely legislators will raise less revenue for the operating budget than they had originally proposed.
We also know that the transportation budget is somewhat contingent on the decisions being made about revenue for the operating budget, and it’s not clear yet how much revenue legislators will be able to raise for transportation. House and Senate leaders are continuing to conference in order to form agreements on new revenue sources and spending priorities, but there are some significant differences in their proposals that they have yet to work out.
One key difference is that the Senate’s proposed transportation budget includes a transfer of three tenths of a percent from the general operating fund’s sales tax to raise a significant amount of revenue. If that doesn’t move forward, the transportation budget will have less revenue to work with.
The Senate also proposed changing the way we fund the removal of culverts. Parts of Washington are under an injunction to replace culverts that have been blocking fish from swimming upstream and violating tribal fishing rights. To date, we’ve used gas tax revenue to pay for culvert replacements, since they’re built along with roadways. But the Senate proposed putting culvert removal in the capital budget instead, and using a bond bill to raise $5 billion with money from the Public Works Trust account. You can read more about this proposal here, but it too would have a significant impact on the transportation budget, if adopted.
On the House side, we expect the House Transportation Committee to hold a hearing on the Senate’s revenue proposal, SB 5801, before the end of session. We continue to be opposed to any new revenue that includes taxes on e-bikes and transit.
There’s still time to speak up for the kind of transportation budget you want. Join us to voice your support for key investments in safe transit, walking, and biking, and speak out against taxes on e-bikes and buses. Send a letter to your legislators today!
Keep an eye on your email for updates and opportunities to take action.
Ride on!
– Transportation Choices
