The transportation package would provide money for several projects in Clark County, including:
o $98.7 million to rebuild the freeway interchange at Interstate 5 and Mill Plain Boulevard in Vancouver.
o $50 million to replace the antiquated Northeast 179th Street interchange on I-5.
o $25 million for improvements to the Camas Slough Bridge along state Highway 14.
o $7.7 million for widening Main Street/state Highway 502 in Battle Ground.
o $7.7 million for a railroad overpass in Ridgefield.
$6 million for improvements to state Highway 501 (Mill Plain Boulevard) from I-5 to the Port of Vancouver.
Oregonians can continue to shop tax-free in Washington under the budget signed by Gov. Jay Inslee close to 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
Democrats hoped to end the tax exemption for out-of-state visitors to raise revenue for the state’s public schools, but the $38.2 billion budget did not include closing the tax loophole.
The transportation package would provide money for several projects in Clark County, including:
o $98.7 million to rebuild the freeway interchange at Interstate 5 and Mill Plain Boulevard in Vancouver.
o $50 million to replace the antiquated Northeast 179th Street interchange on I-5.
o $25 million for improvements to the Camas Slough Bridge along state Highway 14.
o $7.7 million for widening Main Street/state Highway 502 in Battle Ground.
o $7.7 million for a railroad overpass in Ridgefield.
$6 million for improvements to state Highway 501 (Mill Plain Boulevard) from I-5 to the Port of Vancouver.
State Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, said the sales-tax exemption battle will be waged “another day.”
Inslee’s signature on the budget ensured the state narrowly averted a partial government shutdown. But partisan gridlock prevented lawmakers from adjourning as many had expected. Instead, legislators will likely be back next week. They are in the midst of a third special legislative session.
On Wednesday morning, Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, was leaving Olympia and heading for Vancouver after staying up most the night. Both chambers worked until the wee hours of the morning.
Harris voted against a $16 billion statewide transportation revenue bill, which would phase in an 11.9-cent gas tax.
The House still needs to approve a bonding and spending bill, designating the money to specific projects before the transportation package is complete.
Harris said he hopes the package will lose momentum while lawmakers are back in their districts over the holiday weekend and ultimately fail.
“When you’re in Olympia you hear from lobbyists,” Harris said. “When you go home, you feel the love of the people who voted you into office. That could change a perspective.”
The transportation package didn’t do enough for his district for Harris to support it, he said, adding that about $25 million would be dedicated to his 17th Legislative District.
The transportation plan would increase the gas tax in two stages: a 7-cent increase on Aug. 1 and a 4.9-cent increase on July 1, 2016.
The plan spends $8.8 billion on state and local road projects and $1.4 billion on maintenance and preservation. An additional $1 billion would go to nonhighway projects, such as bike paths, pedestrian walkways and transit. It also would allow Sound Transit to ask voters to pay for potential expansions of its rail line.
The Legislature has struggled to pass a transportation package for years.
In Clark County, the package would carve out $50 million to replace the antiquated Northeast 179th Street interchange on Interstate 5, and $98.7 million to rebuild the interchange at Interstate 5 and Mill Plain Boulevard.
Other projects in the transportation package include:
o $25 million for improvements to the Camas Slough Bridge along state Highway 14.
o $7.7 million for widening Main Street/state Highway 502 in Battle Ground.
o $7.7 million for a railroad overpass in Ridgefield.
o $6 million for improvements to state Highway 501 (Mill Plain Boulevard) from Interstate 5 to the Port of Vancouver.
Clark County makes up about 6.4 percent of the state’s population and under this package would receive $195 million or about 1.2 percent of the package.
Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, wrote on her Facebook page that she left the Statehouse at 3:45 a.m. after “a long day of terror on our taxpayers.”
“After the terrible 12-cent gas tax passed at about 1 a.m., I literally wept inside the ladies restroom,” Pike wrote. “I wept for all the people in my district who will be harmed by the biggest gas tax in (Washington) state history. … Our low-wage earners and those on fixed incomes will feel this the most. Above all, I weep for them.”
Many Democrats hailed the transportation package. Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, said it has the most important projects for the region.
A vote to suspend Initiative 1351, a class-size reduction measure that voters approved last fall, failed in the Senate early Wednesday morning. The measure comes with a $2 billion price tag that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seemed to agree would blow a hole in the operating budget and be impossible to fund.
As of press time, lawmakers weren’t certain when they would be back in Olympia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
