Senators from Washington:
Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center
Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver
Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima
Sen. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo
Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia
Representatives from Washington:
Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama
Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas
Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver
Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver
Rep. Norm Johnson, R-Yakima
Senators from Oregon:
Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield
Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro
Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland
Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose
Representatives from Oregon:
House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland
Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles
Rep. Tobias Read, D-Beaverton
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario
Southwestern Washington lawmakers have invited their Oregon counterparts to form a new coalition to discuss an Interstate 5 Bridge replacement project.
The two Republican lawmakers leading the charge, Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, and Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, recently sent a letter, along with Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, to a handful of Oregon and Washington lawmakers, asking them to be part of the “bipartisan, Bi-State Bridge Coalition,” or BBC.
The letter invites lawmakers to a June 4 meeting, closed to the public and press, to “address transportation corridors between the states of Oregon and Washington and specific to the regions of Southwest Washington and the Portland metro area.”
“I think the most important thing is to have an open dialogue amongst us to see where we can find commonality,” said Rivers.
“Our goal is to shift the discussion from what we can’t do to what we can do,” she added.
Senators from Washington:
Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center
Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver
Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima
Sen. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo
Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia
Representatives from Washington:
Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama
Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas
Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver
Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver
Rep. Norm Johnson, R-Yakima
Senators from Oregon:
Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield
Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro
Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Portland
Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin
Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose
Representatives from Oregon:
House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland
Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles
Rep. Tobias Read, D-Beaverton
Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario
The letter states the goal is to find consensus using a “well-thought-out matrix” and adds “more studies are not the answer.”
“The first meeting will be exploratory,” Pike said. “We’ll find out where everyone is at and gauge the temperature of the water and what they can and can’t support. … A journey of one thousand miles begins with one step. That’s what this first meeting is going to be.”
But several lawmakers say they feel they have already traveled thousands of miles.
Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, who was a vocal proponent of the Columbia River Crossing and who has been invited to participate in the new coalition, said she will attend the meeting but not without reservations.
“I’m concerned about running head-on to another discussion about replacing the I-5 Bridge without ensuring we won’t find ourselves back here, 15 years from now,” she said. “My question will be, ‘What will be different?’ “
Oregon Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, who chairs the committee on business and transportation, said he’s “always willing to listen.”
But, he said, “unless they have some miraculous answer,” he doesn’t see new bridge discussions moving far.
“I’m not sure I want to go down that road and spend a lot of Oregon resources on projects that aren’t going to go anywhere,” Beyer said, adding that Oregon has already diverted the $450 million it was earmarking for the CRC to other projects.
Rivers and Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, were instrumental in the Senate Majority Coalition’s decision to withhold Washington’s $450 million funding for the Columbia River Crossing. After Washington failed to act, Oregon’s governor pushed ahead to consider an Oregon-only project. The “go-it-alone strategy” failed to garner enough votes in 2014 and the CRC project was declared dead.
Oregon’s House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, a key backer of the CRC, was also invited to attend the BBC.
“The speaker has a very busy schedule that prevents her attendance at this meeting,” said Jared Mason-Gere, her spokesman. “She was a strong supporter of bistate plans in the 2013 and 2014 sessions that would have replaced the outdated I-5 Bridge over the Columbia.”
Oregon Rep. John Huffman, R-The Dalles, has been working closely with Pike and said he will encourage his fellow Oregon lawmakers to attend.
“We’re going to meet; it’s hard to say if it will go anywhere or not,” he said. “But at least, in my opinion, it’s being done the proper way.”
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