Efforts to drag a transportation bill across the finish line demonstrate the need for compromise in the Legislature. Despite the difficulties, lawmakers must find a way to provide funding for Washington’s roads, ferries and transit.
Time is running out. The 60-day even-year legislative session mandated by the state constitution is scheduled to end Thursday. While a special session called by the governor is a possibility, legislators should find a way to complete their work on time.
Most prominent among that work is a $16.8 billion, 16-year transportation bill, dubbed “Move Ahead Washington.” The legislation would be transformative, earmarking funding for maintenance, new projects and transit access — in addition to completing projects started following a 2015 transportation bill.
Notably, the legislation does not propose an increase to the state’s gas tax — the typical method for funding transportation bills. Washington already has one of the nation’s highest gas taxes, at 49.4 cents per gallon; with the federal tax at 18.4 cents per gallon, drivers in this state pay 67.8 cents per gallon in taxes.
Avoiding an increase to the gas tax has proven prescient. Sharp increases in gas prices, fueled by general inflation and exacerbated by Russia’s attack on Ukraine, have left people shocked at the pump.
But forging the details of how to fund the transportation package has proven to be frustrating. A plan to charge 6 cents per gallon for fuel exported to other states drew backlash from leaders in those states; it passed the Senate, anyway, but was removed in the House version of the bill.
To replace that money, House Democrats proposed siphoning $100 million from the state public works fund. That money typically is a set-aside for municipal governments; if it now is used by the state, city and county projects could be underfunded.
In response, according to The (Everett) Herald, Senate Democrats are considering altering the state Model Toxics Control Act account and directing some funding to transportation. The proposal calls for pushing 45 percent of hazardous substance tax collections into an account to be spent on buses, sidewalks and bike paths.
Lawmakers now must forge a path that is tenable for both the House and Senate. Equally important, they must find a path that is acceptable for members from both sides of the aisle.
In recent years, the Democratic-led Legislature has demonstrated the dangers of single-party rule and a lack of compromise. Most noticeable was the creation of a payroll tax to fund long-term care, a well-meaning provision that was so full of holes that lawmakers suspended the tax this year just as it was taking effect.
The transportation package has laudable goals. As House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said: “We’re very committed to a historic transportation package, the greenest transportation package in the history of the state. We have the opportunity to come out of this pandemic now with a budget that actually puts people, many, many people, in a better position than they were when we went into this. And that’s what we’re focused on trying to do.”
Such a significant investment in our state is unusual during the short legislative session. But with pressing needs exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and with state revenue unexpectedly robust, now is the time to do the heavy lifting.
All that’s left is a healthy dose of compromise in order to help Washington move ahead.
