State Sen. Ann Rivers is hopeful President-Elect Donald Trump might include money to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge in his infrastructure package.
Gov. Jay Inslee, on the other hand, isn’t so optimistic.
“We have a president-elect who has yet to propose anything real to finance infrastructure,” Inslee said. “I can’t be encouraged about that.”
But if anything changes, Inslee said in a conversation with The Columbian’s editorial board on Thursday afternoon, he would welcome a proposal.
“I’ve basically only heard: Give tax relief to billionaires,” the governor said of Trump’s plans.
The more encouraging news, Inslee said, is that state Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, will no longer be in Olympia.
“The No. 1 person responsible for not having a replacement bridge is no longer in the state Senate,” he said.
Ever since the approximately $3 billion Columbia River Crossing project, which would have extended light rail into Vancouver and rebuilt freeway interchanges on both sides of the river, failed, legislators have tried to revive conversations about the project.
Washington walked away from the project in 2013, and an Oregon-led version of the CRC fizzled in 2014. About $200 million was spent in a planning process for the bridge that stretched back to 2001.
Rivers, also an outspoken critic of the CRC, said she’s been chatting with someone on Trump’s transition team about including funding to replace the I-5 Bridge, the Hood River-White Salmon bridge and the Bridge of the Gods near Stevenson in his plan for his first 100 days in office. Lawmakers also hope to designate the Interstate 5 Bridge replacement project as a statewide priority this legislative session.
The project is of state importance and crucial to the region, the governor said, but it is only going to move forward if the local community finds a solution. The local communities need to lead the state, Inslee said.
Overall, Inslee’s $47 billion budget plan, which he unveiled this week, prioritizes education and mental health funding over transportation.
He’s proposing modernizing the state’s mental health system and suggested that $300 million would help the state get there in the next two years.
He proposed spending $2.7 billion in the next two-year budget cycle to fully fund the state’s education system. The Legislature is being held in contempt of court by the state’s top court for not adequately funding education, a constitutional duty.
Inslee’s budget included some familiar proposals, including a capital gains tax and a carbon tax. He has championed both a capital gains tax and a carbon cap-and-trade proposal in previous legislative sessions without much success. He is seeking more than $4 billion in new revenue. Legislators, including Rivers, criticized his budget.
“I was hoping to see new thinking from the governor on K-12 funding — like a proposal that is rooted in the actual cost of educating a child in our state, because that might start to gain some traction across the Legislature,” she said in a statement.
Inslee said he plans to advocate for the plan to the public, with the hopes that residents are key in persuading the lawmakers who represent them.
Inslee believes legislators should be more motivated this session because the state is quickly approaching the final deadline to fully fund education.
He said lawmakers will realize soon that there are limited options available to generate revenue.
“The easier options have been exhausted, now the more difficult are remaining,” he said.
