Dear friends and neighbors,
We are in the final stretch of the legislative session, which is scheduled to end on April 23rd. It has been a busy couple of weeks here in the House. We passed a two-year transportation budget for our state as well as a two-year construction (capital) budget. Additionally, we passed a bill that ensures light rail and ST3 projects are protected, while also addressing the car tab valuations in a way that better reflects the rate of depreciation Details of all three measures can be found below.
Between now and the final day of session, House Democrats are focused on reaching a budget deal with Senate Republicans. Both chambers have passed proposed budgets for our state that fully fund our K-12 schools, but the approaches are very different. Neither budget has the votes to pass in the opposite chamber, so it’s time to negotiate a compromise. House Democrats have requested several meetings, but the other side has not yet come to the table. We stand ready and willing to have those negotiations so we can come to an agreement and pass a budget on time for our state.
If you have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to email me or call my office at 360-786-7900. It’s an honor to serve as your state representative.
Sincerely,
House passes construction and transportation budgets
Construction (Capital) Budget
The House passed a state construction (capital) budget that makes a massive $1.8 billion investment in building local schools, colleges and universities. It passed on a strong bipartisan basis (95 to 2). I’m pleased to say this budget includes funding for important projects in our district, including:
- $3 million for the pre-construction phase of a new building to house the Computer Science and Engineering programs at UW Bothell
- Nearly $3 million total in grant funding for the North Creek Regional Trail, Wayne Sammamish Riverfront Regional Park, and the trail bridge replacement for the park at Bothell Landing
The capital budget not only improves and maintains our state’s infrastructure of public buildings, parks and natural resource areas, it also creates jobs. Roughly 18 jobs are created per $1 million in funding, which means this budget would create about 75,000 jobs in construction, engineering, natural resource rehabilitation and related fields.
Transportation Budget
House Democrats passed a transportation budget allocating $8.7 billion in much-needed funding to our state’s transportation network. These investments help maintain our transportation infrastructure, support thousands of good-paying jobs, and address key traffic and transportation problems that affect working families all over the state, including right here in the 1st Legislative District. As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, one of the projects funded in this budget is the I-405 northbound hard-shoulder running project, which is scheduled to be completed this summer. Other critical investments include:
- Nearly $472 million to help maintain our roads and highways
- $20 million to fix structurally deficient bridges in our state
- Over $228 million for mass transit, vanpool and commute trip reduction, including $15 million for Alaskan Way Viaduct transit mitigation
- Over $71 million for bicycle, pedestrian, and Safe Routes to School projects
- $2.6 billion in highway projects
Additionally, the following amendment was included in the transportation budget:
- Requiring an independent, third-party study of the Express Toll Lanes on I-405 to determine if they’re achieving speed limits of at least 45 mph at least 90 percent of the time during peak period, as required by statute.
As our state’s population grows, addressing our transportation needs is critical. The budget we passed this week keeps us moving forward. It already passed the Senate once, but because it was amended in the House before passage, the Senate must now consider it again. I will keep you informed of its progress.
A fair solution to stay on track
Voters in the 1st Legislative District approved ST3, which set car tabs at their current amount. But many people are confused about the amount of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) calculated on their 2017 car tab bills. Some are angry with Sound Transit, although Sound Transit is simply doing what the voters approved, and which was authorized by both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature.
Nevertheless, these car tab valuations are having a real impact on working families in our region, and as a result, House Democrats proposed a solution addressing this impact while keeping the projects people voted for on track.
The sticking point is that the Legislature authorized Sound Transit to get funding based off a 1996 valuation schedule that wasn’t nearly as accurate as more recent valuation schedules. Sound Transit has already started the bonding process based on that projected revenue, so completely overturning those car tab valuations would severely damage the ST3 projects and timelines, as well as our bond rating. Our proposal in effect changes to a 2006 valuation schedule used for ST2, which tracks closely to Kelly Blue Book values as can be seen in the accompanying graph in this Seattle Times analysis.
This credit has to be paid for, so we’re authorizing Sound Transit to explore all of their options for revenue or savings, without requiring them to cut or slow down projects. In fact, we’re asking them to report back to us every year on the status of these projects so we can determine if they have the funding they need to get the job done.
Fair is fair. Asking people to pay a car tab bill based on an inaccurate valuation of their car isn’t right; neither is overturning the will of the voters. At the end of the day, we must keep Sound Transit projects moving without overburdening working families.
This proposal passed the House this week, and now awaits action in the Senate.