Dear friends,
We’ve got a lot of updates for you this week, including which bills died, which are still alive, and what we’re looking for in the supplemental transportation budgets that come out today. Several bills we’ve been supporting died last week (see a full list toward the bottom of this email). With the state’s budget crunch, it was a tough year for any bills with ongoing fiscal impacts. On top of that, since it’s a short session, legislators simply ran out of time to vote on many bills.
Unfortunately, our bill to align regional transportation planning with Washington’s climate laws (House Bill 2134) failed to move forward. Thank you to everyone who contacted your representatives about it last Monday. We still think this is important legislation to ensure transportation investments don’t exacerbate car-dependence and climate pollution, and we will be bringing it back in the future.
Another of our top-priority bills is still alive: Senate Bill 6148 would allow Sound Transit to issue 75 year bonds, giving them more flexibility to build light rail as fast as possible and avoid cutting projects. This bill is a critical piece of the puzzle as Sound Transit figures out how to keep building light rail to Tacoma, Everett, West Seattle, and Ballard in light of rising cost estimates.
On Thursday, TCC’s Education and Engagement Manager, Iz Berrang, and Advocacy Manager, Holden Ringer, went to Olympia as part of a lobby day for transportation demand management programs and commute trip reduction. These are policies that require and encourage large employers to reduce single-occupancy vehicle commuting by supporting transit, carpooling, active transportation, and flexible work arrangements. House Bill 2307 would update Washington’s Commute Trip Reduction law, expanding the commute hours allowed under the law to support more low-income and shift workers. Iz and Holden met with Representative Joe Fitzgibbon and Senator Bob Hasegawa to share information about transportation demand management programs in Washington, why funding these programs is important, and to discuss the important changes HB 2307 proposes.
At a hearing in the House Transportation Committee last Thursday, our Policy Director Katy Ricchiuto testified in support of SB 6148 alongside Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello, Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers, and others. Former Sound Transit CFO Bryan McCartan was available to answer members’ questions, making the hearing particularly informative. You can watch a recording here.
We’re also supporting Senate Bill 6309, which would create yet another tool for Sound Transit to #BuildTheDamnTrains. This bill gives regional transit authorities like Sound Transit more flexibility to apply for permits before a property has been acquired. It could help speed up the permitting process for light rail projects, saving time and money. This bill has a hearing in the House Committee on Local Government tomorrow, Feb. 24, at 10:30 AM. Please sign in PRO here.
Today, we’ll get our first look at the House and Senate supplemental transportation budgets. We’ll be doing a full budget analysis over the next week, but to start we’ll be looking for a few key priorities:
- A budget proviso and funding to design a comprehensive Megaproject for Safety program that we can fully fund in future years
- Ongoing funding for Washington’s Intercity Bus Program
- A fix-it-first approach to transportation spending
- Maintaining Climate Commitment Act funding for its intended purpose: reducing pollution and expanding clean transportation choices
- Ongoing funding for transit agencies through Regional Mobility grants
Learn more in our recent blog post.
We’ll be testifying on the budgets today in the House Transportation Committee at 4 PM and tomorrow in the Senate Transportation Committee at 4 PM. Stay tuned for ways you can support our budget priorities, and as always check out our Bill Tracker for updates on everything we’re watching this session.
Ride on!
– Transportation Choices Coalition
What Happened Last Week
These bills died:
- HB 2092 – Establishing a passenger rail advisory committee. This bill would have established a state-level committee to monitor and report annually on issues affecting the Amtrak Cascades passenger rail service.
- HB 2134 – Providing for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled in Regional Transportation Planning Organization transportation plans. This bill would have helped ensure regional transportation planning supports Washington’s climate goals.
- HB 2307 – Modifying the time component of various definitions for purposes of commute trip reduction. This bill would have expanded the Commute Trip Reduction law to support more low-income and shift workers.
- SB 6243 – Concerning the operation of autonomous motor vehicles. We had concerns about this bill, including the potential preemption of local jurisdictions’ ability to enact laws regulating autonomous vehicles.
- HB 2727 – Creating the educational transit access grant program to reduce the cost of public transportation for community and technical college students. This bill didn’t survive the cutoff, but there’s still a chance it will come back in the budget as a grant program.
These bills are still alive:
- SB 6148 – Modifying the maximum terms of regional transit authority bond issues. This bill would extend 75-year bonding authority for Sound Transit to deliver transit projects faster.
- SB 6309 – Providing for enhanced municipal permitting tools for high-capacity transit projects. This bill would give Sound Transit another tool to build light rail faster.
- ESHB 2095 – Protecting vulnerable users of public ways. This bill would increase accountability for drivers who hit people walking and biking.
What’s Coming Up This Week
Budgets are coming out TODAY, Monday, Feb. 23.
- The House transportation budget will be available here after 12 PM. There will be a budget hearing in the House Transportation Committee TODAY at 4 PM, and it will be moved out of committee on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
- The Senate transportation budget will be available here after 12 PM. There will be a budget hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee TOMORROW, Feb. 24, at 4 PM and it will be moved out of committee on Thursday, Feb. 26.
SB 6309 has a hearing in the House Committee on Local Government TOMORROW, Feb. 24, at 10:30 AM.
- This bill would give Sound Transit a permitting tool to help build projects faster. Please sign in PRO here.
