Transportation shares the road with other issues

Lawmakers say timing is everything during special session

PATRICK CONDON, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- Now that a third special session -- convened to solve the state's transportation gridlock -- has begun, most lawmakers say the Legislature should stay on task, find a way to bankroll road improvements, and go home.

Well, there is a small earthquake relief bill that might deserve attention. And legislation to lock in $30 license tab fees. Don't forget aid for drought-oppressed Eastern Washington farmers, not to mention cherry growers stricken by hail. Oh, and more money is needed for wildfire prevention in the wake of the fires blazing through Okanogan County.

In other words, lawmakers say the Legislature should definitely stick to transportation. Except ...

"If they bring one other thing up, then it's a free-for-all for everyone," said Rep. Sandra Romero, D-Olympia.

But Romero said she and fellow Olympia Democrat Sam Hunt are still eyeing an opportunity to make one last push for House Bill 2246, which would grant about $120,000 for the reconstruction of historic buildings in Olympia, Aberdeen and Seattle that were damaged by the Feb. 28 earthquake.

"If I see the opportunity, I'm going to take it," Romero said. "Timing is everything here, and if the time is right, you have to seize on it."

Opening the door

Transportation was the only issue Gov. Gary Locke asked the Legislature to tackle when he called the third special session.

However, once a special session convenes, the governor has no control over what issues that lawmakers decide to take up.

And Locke himself has since called on lawmakers to parcel out aid to drought-afflicted farmers.

Some House Republicans, though, interpreted that request as little more than a symbolic move to gin up support from Eastern Washington lawmakers who oppose a transportation plan that would favor Puget Sound road projects.

Rep. Richard DeBolt, the House Republican floor leader from Chehalis, said farm relief is unlikely this year.

"I just don't see any appetite, really by anyone, to do much else," DeBolt said. "People are just really tired of trying to move stuff through the process."

Car tabs

Still, DeBolt wouldn't mind passing, once and for all, legislation to ensure $30 license tab fees. That was the goal of voters who passed Initiative 695 in 1999, but since then several court rulings have blocked its full implementation.

"As long as we're coming in for transportation, I'd like to see that get done," DeBolt said.

The Senate passed such legislation several times earlier in the year, only to see the bills wither in the House.

A number of other legislators would still like to pass an alternative to the state's legally endangered blanket primary, which a federal court judge is likely to strike down during the next few weeks.

Dozens of attempts to craft a new primary ultimately came to nothing during the regular session and the first two special sessions.

"I know we could still get a lot of votes" for a primary replacement, said Rep. Val Ogden, D-Vancouver. But House Republican leadership has made it clear that won't happen this year.

"No chance," DeBolt said.

That and other issues will likely have to wait until the 2002 session -- "Not that far off, really," Ogden said with a laugh.

On the Web

Washington State Legislature (www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/default.htm)

The Olympian Copyright 2001

back to main Legislature 2001 index