House passes transportation financing bill

Democrats say they'll send gas tax increase to voters

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, February 1, 2002

OLYMPIA -- House Democrats, aided by one Republican, pushed through a regional transportation-financing plan for central Puget Sound counties Thursday evening.

The 51-44 vote sends the menu of local-tax options to the Senate, which approved its own version of the plan Saturday. Only Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Spanaway, crossed over in favor of the plan.

Despite the partisan vote and complaints by Republicans that they have been pushed around by the Democrats, both parties said they expect a workable compromise to be found in talks with the Senate.

"This really is a work in progress," said House Transportation Committee Chairwoman Ruth Fisher, D-Tacoma, who wrote Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2359.

Democrats described the vote as one of many steps needed for a comprehensive transportation revenue package, and Speaker Frank Chopp announced that he no longer will ask lawmakers to approve that tax increase without a vote of the public.

"We are going to have a referendum," said Chopp, a Seattle Democrat. He was referring to a proposal to send any transportation tax increase, including a 9-cents-per-gallon boost in the gas tax, to voters later this year.

His pledge to give one month to business lobbyists to round up House Republican support for a gas-tax vote in Olympia, without voter approval, expired Thursday night, he said. That leaves only the Senate Democrats and Gov. Gary Locke holding out for a legislative vote to raise transportation taxes.

Chopp appeared to downplay friction with the Republicans, saying "Our goal is still to work with the other caucuses."

With the vote, there now are at least three major competing proposals for how the central Puget Sound counties can raise extra money for mega-projects such as replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle and widening Interstate 405 in Bellevue.

All are aimed at providing extra cash for the costly projects in addition to revenue from the statewide plan. The goal is to avoid siphoning away statewide money needed for projects that improve safety and traffic flow in almost every community in the state.

The regional plan approved Thursday would send 30 percent of locally generated money to critical city and county projects, and not just mega-projects, a plan Fisher said is needed by local governments.

Her plan would let all 39 counties participate, and it would let local voters approve a local gas tax of up to 2.3 cents per gallon, a $100 yearly car registration fee, parking taxes, tolls and other taxes including a $2 employee tax.

Republicans led by Rep. Fred Jarrett -- who offered an alternative plan with only 10 percent local money -- said Fisher's approach was wrong. His proposal allowed no local gas tax or locally collected tolls.

A third plan, approved Saturday on a 31-14 vote in the Senate, puts all the money raised regionally into regional projects, with nothing cut off the top for local government. It does allow local tolls but does not permit a local-option gas tax.

Other differences between the plans involve which local governments will have a say over projects, and how votes of differently sized counties should be weighted, if at all.

Rep. Jack Cairnes, R-Covington, predicted that voters "will go berserk" when they learn a motor vehicle tax of $100 could be reimposed under the House Democrats' plan, just three years after Initiative 695 repealed most car taxes.

"You know, Tim Eyman didn't create Tim Eyman," Cairnes said, ticking off a list of mistakes made by lawmakers that he thinks have triggered initiatives by Eyman and others. "This Legislature did it. They did it by not taking responsibility!"

But Democrats, who control the House by a 50-48 margin, called the proposal a good step toward completing the second of three major transportation goals of the 60-day session, with a gas tax proposal still on the horizon.

Unlike last year, when a 49-49 tie let Republican or Democratic co-speakers kill any bills they didn't like, "We've got a process that works now. We can move things," said Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish.

On the Web:

- Washington State Legislature

- Gov. Gary Locke

- Department of Transportation

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