Dear friends,
Last Friday was the fiscal committee cutoff — the last day to move bills out of any of the House or Senate fiscal committees. This includes both Transportation Committees, the House Capital Budget, Finance, and Appropriations Committees along with the Senate Ways & Means Committee. Many of the bills we’ve been supporting have passed out of their committees or even passed out of the House or Senate, and a couple that we opposed are now dead (read more and check out our Bill Tracker).
The Road Usage Charge bills that we’ve been rallying around to help secure new long-term funding for transportation in the face of declining gas tax revenue did not pass out of either the House or Senate Transportation committees, but there’s still the possibility that they show up in one of the budgets legislators are preparing or move later in a different form. We’ll keep you posted!
Last week, both the House and Senate received presentations on the state of the transportation budget. (You can see the House presentation here and the Senate presentation here). There’s a projected deficit of $8 billion over the next 6 years due to cost overruns on projects that are already in progress, culvert removal, and ferries.
Our message on the budgets is simple: with a deficit this large, Washington’s leaders need to think hard about our state’s transportation priorities. We must continue to fund investments in transit, biking and walking as these investments ultimately save money and reduce congestion and pollution. And we must keep funding desperately needed preservation and maintenance work to make our roads safer and more reliable. But it’s time to reevaluate some of the big freeway projects that are responsible for so much of this deficit. We’ll be advocating for a “fix it first” approach to transportation spending and a review of the expansion projects planned for the future.
Keep reading for updates on the bills we’re following and opportunities to take action.
Ride on!
– Transportation Choices
What Happened Last Week
These bills have passed the Senate!
- A bill we support concerning minimum parking requirements (SB 5184), which would limit parking minimums as a requirement for development. You can read more about it from our friends at The Urbanist here.
- A bill we support concerning job postings requiring driver’s licenses (SB 5501), which would help ensure nondrivers are not unfairly barred from job opportunities.
- A bill we support establishing shared streets (SB 5595), which would legalize a type of street where cars are allowed, but pedestrians are the priority, and the speed limit is 10 mph.
These bills have passed out of their original committees and still need to pass out of their house of origin by March 12th:
- A bill we support extending the commute trip reduction tax credit (HB 1043) is in the House Rules Committee. This bill would help more businesses participate.
- A bill we support promoting transit-oriented development (HB 1491) is in the House Rules Committee. This bill would require cities to allow more density near light rail and bus rapid transit stops.
- A bill we support implementing safe system approach strategies for active transportation infrastructure (SB 5581) is in the Senate Rules Committee. This bill would help prioritize active transportation in WSDOT construction projects and programs by integrating shared-use paths, trails, roundabouts and Complete Streets principles.
- A bill we support concerning impaired driving (SB 5067) is in the Senate Rules Committee. This bill would lower the legal blood alcohol concentration limit for impaired driving from .08 to .05.
- A bill we support including tribal representation in certain transportation activities (SB 5374) is in the Senate Rules Committee. This bill would require better coordination between transportation planning bodies and tribal governments and better tribal representation in state traffic safety efforts.
The following bills are now dead:
- A bill we opposed using Climate Commitment Act revenues to fund the state transportation system (HB 1324). This bill would have diverted CCA funds toward highway purposes and away from their intended uses.
- Another bill we opposed reducing the requirements of complete streets obligations for transportation projects (HB 1405). This bill would have hurt efforts to make streets safer for people walking, biking, and taking transit.
