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In Our View: State’s Road Needs Stall

Facing big education bill, can Legislature find way to address transportation? -deck 16 pt subhed goes herg

The Columbian
Published: December 5, 2014, 12:00am

The turning, churning, twisting nature of politics can be seen in the prospects for a transportation bill coming out of the 2015 Washington Legislature.

A year ago, heading into a short 2014 session, transportation promised to be a paramount concern for lawmakers. The Senate Majority Coalition had floated the idea of a phased-in gas-tax hike of 11.5 cents per gallon in order to raise $12.3 billion for transportation projects throughout the state. The idea ended up being an air ball and did not come up for a vote, extending the Senate’s long losing streak when it comes to transportation funding.

All of that seems like a quaint remembrance from the distant past. This time around, as lawmakers prepare for a more intense session that will include devising the state’s biennial budget, transportation is largely an afterthought. The need to dig up roughly $3 billion to meet the state Supreme Court’s demand for adequate funding of K-12 public education — plus the need to deal with voter-approved Initiative 1351, which could add another $4.7 billion for education — will be the top priority for lawmakers.

Meanwhile, the necessity for transportation funding has not dissipated. Because of that, Gov. Jay Inslee has invited legislative leaders to provide feedback on legislation he plans to propose next year. “It will emphasize the importance of investments in maintenance, safety and operations to protect and preserve our existing infrastructure,” read an email from Miguel Perez-Gibson, the governor’s executive director of legislative affairs. “It will also invest in multi-modal solutions, next generation transportation options, and make progress on environmental concerns.”

What the proposal will not do is provide funding for the Columbia River Crossing. That idea died in the 2013 state Senate, sending Clark County back to the drawing board for a replacement of the Interstate 5 Bridge. All of which leaves Southwest Washington in a difficult position. Without a signature project underway, the region is easily ignored when it comes to handing out transportation dollars.

Last year’s preliminary proposal, spearheaded by Curtis King, R-Yakima, the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, paid scant attention to Clark County. A list of projects included with the proposal earmarked $41 million worth of transportation works — 0.34 percent of the total — for a county that has approximately 7 percent of the state’s population. Clark County, like most in the state, is accustomed to be a donor county when it comes to transportation funding. But even if an updated I-5 bridge is not in the works, there are plenty of transportation concerns from this part of the state that should be addressed.

“The governor is going to build on the work that’s been done the past two years in order to promote a solution that sparks action within the next legislative session,” read the email from Perez-Gibson. In that regard, we wish Inslee the best of luck. The realities are that no progress has been made on transportation in the past two legislative sessions; that a large percentage of lawmakers will be adamantly opposed to any tax increase; and that some in the Legislature will view transportation funding as a tug-of-war over Inslee’s climate-change initiative.

The issues are largely unchanged from a year ago. Except for the fact that the state’s bridges, roads, and tunnels are one year older. And except for the fact that the funding of education will be the paramount duty facing next year’s Legislature. All of which adds a twist to the coming debate over transportation.

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