Muni News
VOLUME 90, ISSUE 2  - FEBRUARY 2000

TRANSPORTATION AND LEGISLATURE 2000
By Virginia Gunby, Trustee

A variety of viewpoints emerged during the discussion at the four joint Transportation Forums sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Municipal League in January. The lack of a public consensus or vision about the future nature of our city and state and the transportation systems serving them, makes it difficult for the legislature, the governor and citizens to find a system to meet all needs. Since the Legislature went into its brief 2000 session there have been a range of transportation proposals under consideration that reflect many diverse points of view.

I-695 Challenges Legislative Session

As a follow-on to I-695, a state “Traffic Improvement Initiative” has been filed for signature gathering and a possible vote in the fall that would earmark 90% of all road taxes for roads only, allow “equal access to all auto lanes,” which means opening HOV lanes for all vehicles, and require state performance audits of all transportation agencies. Governor Locke proposed the state wait on major highway recommendations until the 2001 session, when the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation, after two years of study, will recommend a state transportation package. For the interim he proposed legislation that would use $100M from the state’s reserve funds for the biennium to provide transit “bridge funding” until local voters can decide if and how to replace funds for transit service lost by the passage of I-695. Locke also recommended a temporary state sales tax credit of .3% to assist transit agencies through 2001.

Transit Funding Uncertain

Legislators are discussing adding more local option taxes than those enabled by the 1990 legislature, or taking the cap off of the .6% maximum local sales tax authority for local transit agencies like Metro Transit. (Metro lost over a third of its operating budget or $100M per year under I-695.) Voters in King County have already approved the .6% sales tax. Local voters could be asked in the fall of 2000 to remove the sales tax cap, if needed, to provide additional funds for transit service operations. In the meantime the uncertainty of transit funding has caused many transit agencies to announce a reduction of services this spring, partially due to the lack of MVET funds, but also because uncertain transit funding has reduced their ability to attract new drivers to replace retiring drivers.

Highway Bond Option

I-695 reduced the WSDOT’s 1999-2001 biennial budget by a third. To replace some of the $1.9B in Ref. 49 highway bond projects cancelled by I-695, some minority party Senators are proposing legislation to authorize bonding. The debt service would be paid for from: the estimated $43.5M per year rental vehicle sales tax, which now goes into the general fund; the increase in revenue from the auto registration fee estimated to net $45M; and $50-$100M from retired, freed-up bonded gas tax funds. The combined license tab fees, rental car fees, and gas tax total $140M a year, which could support about $840M in bonds for highway projects, and help replace some of the lost Ref. 49 funds.

HOV Lanes Under Attack

Since 1973 the WSDOT HOV system has played a critical role in moving people in buses and vanpools, reducing pollution, noise, environmental, and long-term community impacts. Some legislators are challenging the current 24-hour HOV operating policies of the state and seeking to open them to all traffic all the time or at least at off-peak hours. WSDOT is examining its policy to decide whether in some areas a variable HOV time, using new technology, would be more effective in the Vancouver area to match Portland Metropolitan area’s variable HOV program. (Current SR 520 HOV lanes are an example of their cost-effectiveness. On SR 520 an HOV lane carries 2150 people in 190 vehicles at the peak while the other two lanes move 2150 people in 1800 vehicles, almost ten times as many vehicles.)

Sound Transit Seeks State Aid

There is a Sound Transit legislative proposal which seeks a “financial partnership” with the state to forgive the state sales tax (state general funds) on their construction projects, to assist in completion of the Phase I $3.9B Regional Transit system. This is predicted to return about $214M to the Sound Transit system, to be spent in the five sub-regions. It would provide $100M of the over $350M needed to extend and construct light rail from the University District to Northgate. The sales tax credit would sunset at the end of 2006, at the conclusion of Phase I of “Sound Move.”

Ferry Service Reduced, Passenger-Only Ferries Cancelled

The state ferries budget depended heavily on the MVET. The DOT Commission has cut the ferry biennial budget from $600M to $454M, aided by a one-time infusion from the $60M Ferry Reserve Fund, and increased ferry fares. The Commission approved cancellation of all passenger-only ferry service because their fares cover only 15% of the operating costs. The Commission is warning that auto-ferry service cannot be sustained after June 2002. Along with possible 2000 Legislative actions, the Commission has urged a statewide vote in the fall of 2000 on increased funding for the Ferry service.

Finally, legislation not passed out of its house of origin by February 4, except for finance-related legislation, is now dead. Many are predicting very little transportation legislation from the evenly split House and the Senate divided by a variety of viewpoints and proposals. Since it is an election year for most of the Legislators and the Governor, this short session may end promptly with the passage of only a few basic proposals upon which there is a high level of agreement.