The 2026 Washington State Legislative Session has wrapped up. TCC wants to give you an honest accounting of where things landed, from the wins, to the losses, and what it all means for getting around Washington State.
Our 2026 Legislative Agenda focused on six key goals:
- Directing WSDOT to develop a comprehensive plan for redesigning Washington’s most dangerous main street highways
- Prioritizing maintenance and preservation over new highway expansion to address an $8 billion repair backlog
- Securing at least $10 million per biennium in ongoing funding for the Travel Washington Intercity Bus Program
- Updating regional transportation planning rules to require reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled
- Designing an equitable road usage charge to replace shrinking gas tax revenue
- Giving Sound Transit the tools to build voter-approved light rail projects faster
We made progress on some of these goals and fell short on others. We had more success shaping the transportation budget than passing new policy bills. Most of the bills we supported didn’t survive to a floor vote. But the budget wins were real and meaningful. In a year defined by a nearly $1 billion annual maintenance shortfall at WSDOT and tight fiscal constraints across state government, holding the line and securing targeted investments is no small thing.
What’s in the Transportation Budget
The $16.6 billion supplemental transportation budget is the session’s most consequential outcome for us. We went into budget negotiations worried about significant cuts to programs that help people get around without a car. We came out with those programs protected, and in some cases strengthened.
There are a few things worth knowing about the overall budget picture before we get into specifics. Highway capital programs, preservation, and maintenance together account for about 31% of transportation budget spending. Public transportation, rail, and local multimodal programs combined add up to about 13%. That imbalance is something we’ve been working to change for years, and we’ll have more to say about the longer-term trajectory below.
Here’s what we’re glad to see in the final budget:
- $77 million for Regional Mobility Grants. These grants fund buses, bus shelters, transit centers, and expanded service across the state. Earlier in the session, significant cuts were on the table. We fought hard to protect this funding, and the final budget maintains it. Most of this supports projects already underway, with new grant rounds anticipated in 2027-29. That means expansion of new transit projects may be delayed, which is a real concern we’ll keep pushing on.
- $9.8 million for Commute Trip Reduction. The prior budget hadn’t funded CTR programs beyond the current biennium. This session we secured their future. These programs help employers and jurisdictions reduce solo driving and congestion, and they’re especially important for workers at major employment sites across the state.
- $250,000 for Megaproject for Safety planning. One of our top priorities this session was getting WSDOT to develop a real plan for redesigning Washington’s most dangerous state-owned main street highways, the corridors where people walking, biking, and riding transit are most at risk. We didn’t win a full funded program this year, but we secured planning funds to build one. The legislature also directed $100 million toward preservation on high-risk corridors in the 2029-31 biennium. This is a foundation we intend to keep building on.
- $5 million for free youth fares on Amtrak Cascades, so that young people can ride rail across Washington State for free, which is a meaningful access win for families.
- $3.3 million for community and technical college transit passes. We supported this as a bill (HB 2727). When that bill stalled, we pushed to get it in the budget instead, and it worked. This pilot launches free or low-fare transit access for students at community colleges in King County and Kitsap that don’t already have pass programs. A report to the legislature is due by January 2027, which sets up expansion.
- $12 million for Tribal Transit Grants, plus $500,000 for tribal traffic safety support.
- $12 million to support transit during Revive I-5 construction. King County Metro will receive funding to maintain transit service during the Ship Canal Bridge work, which is important for riders who depend on those routes.
- $100,000 for a study of the transportation budget’s long-term sustainability. The Joint Transportation Committee will convene key stakeholders before the 2027 session to examine whether Washington’s transportation spending is sustainable. Fuel tax revenues are declining as the vehicle fleet electrifies, and gas taxes represent about 40% of transportation revenue. This reckoning is long overdue. We’ll be at that table.
One area where we came up short was with Intercity Bus funding. We sought at least $10 million per biennium in ongoing funding for the Travel Washington Intercity Bus Program. Rural Washingtonians, seniors, and people with disabilities depend on it to reach jobs, services, and healthcare. Current improvements and pilot routes rely on temporary funds expiring this biennium, and new funding was not secured. With federal funding increasingly uncertain, this remains a real concern heading into 2027.
Transportation Bills We Won and Lost
On light rail permitting, we had a real win. SB 6309 passed and has been delivered to Governor Ferguson. If signed, it gives Sound Transit the ability to apply for construction permits before acquiring property or receiving local approvals. This is a meaningful reform needed to help Sound Transit deliver billions of dollars in voter-approved infrastructure more quickly amid sustained cost pressures.
We’re also glad to see SB 6110 pass. Led by our partners at Washington Bikes, this bill creates a clear legal distinction between e-bikes and e-motorcycles. E-motorcycles can travel up to 45 miles per hour and need to be regulated accordingly, but without a clear line in state law, legal e-bikes risk getting swept up in that regulation too. The bill also convenes a group to work through how e-motorcycles should be licensed and regulated going forward.
The bigger disappointment was SB 6148, which would have given Sound Transit 75-year bonding authority to match what peer transit agencies around the country already have. That tool would have helped deliver ST3 projects faster as Sound Transit navigates $35 billion in cost overruns.
Several other bills we cared about didn’t survive the session, mostly for the same reason. In a tight budget year, legislators were cautious about new mandates that could cost the state money, directly or indirectly. And because it was a short session, there simply was not enough time to move every bill out of committee and off of the floor.
- SB 5581, which would have integrated Complete Streets principles into WSDOT projects, actually made it through the Senate and the House Transportation Committee before running out of time on the House floor. The appetite is there.
- HB 2307 would have opened up commute trip reduction programs to shift workers and low-income employees who don’t fit the current 6-to-9 AM arrival window.
- HB 2134 would have required regional planning organizations to incorporate GHG and vehicle miles traveled reductions into their transportation plans.
- HB 2095 would have strengthened protections for vulnerable road users.
- HB 2092 would have established a passenger rail advisory committee.
None of these passed, but none of them are going away either.
Looking Ahead to 2027
The budget itself is the clearest signal of where things are heading. The final budget didn’t commit to funding most highway expansion projects beyond the next two to four years, and the legislature funded a Joint Transportation Committee (JTC) study on the long-term sustainability of transportation spending. These aren’t dramatic shifts, but they do reflect a growing recognition that the status quo isn’t working.
That sets up a busy interim period before the 2027 session. The JTC budget sustainability study will be a major focus, and we’ll be engaged throughout to make sure transit, multimodal infrastructure, and new revenue sources are central to that conversation. Washington needs a long-term funding solution, whether that’s a road usage charge, a highway user fee, or something else, that funds maintenance, transit, sidewalks, and bike lanes in a way the gas tax no longer can.
We’ll also be pushing to reevaluate how highway funding is allocated and to codify stronger protections for transit and multimodal investments in the budget structure. Climate Commitment Act funding, which supports a lot of the active transportation and transit access programs we care about, is declining and will need to be addressed. Permitting reform for high-capacity transit projects isn’t finished with SB 6309, and we’ll continue that work. And autonomous vehicles will be back, whether through legislation or the budget, and we want to make sure local governments retain the authority to regulate them in their communities.
