OLYMPIA
- Six state
senators introduced a new plan today to spur progress in
regional transportation planning by requiring a regional
transportation plan to be submitted to voters this fall.
The
new plan was a result of a meeting of legislators from the
three counties (King, Pierce and Snohomish) involved in
regional transportation planning who met earlier this session
to try to come to compromise on a plan to put before voters.
Sen. Bill Finkbeiner (R-Kirkland); Sen. Ken Jacobsen
(D-Seattle); Sen. Dave Schmidt (R-Mill Creek); Sen. Jim
Kastama (D-Pullayup); Sen. Luke Esser (R-Bellevue); and Sen.
Dan Swecker (R-Rochester), ranking Republican on the Senate
Transportation Committee, are all co-sponsoring the measure.
As
one of the original sponsors of the regional transportation
plan in 2002, Finkbeiner says he hopes the legislation will
get the process moving after several months of stalemate.
“The
kinds of major improvements needed in our region will not be
made unless we get started now,” Finkbeiner said.
“Clearly
we need some sort of impetus to get things moving again,”
Kastama said. “Our congestion problems grow worse by the
day.”
In
2001, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation estimated
the cost of the region’s essential transportation projects
at roughly $32 billion, compared to $10 billion for the rest
of the state.
“We
can’t wait any longer to put a package before the voters
that will help reduce congestion throughout King, Pierce and
Snohomish counties,” Esser said.
“The
cost of these projects only increases as time passes by,”
Swecker said. “It’s time to give the region a little
nudge.”
The
group’s “Regional Transportation Revisited” proposal
remains focused on funding congestion relief projects, but it
also includes provisions to:
-
Allow
regional transportation investment district (RTID) tolls
to be used for operation, preservation and maintenance of
toll-related facilities where tolls have been pledged for
bonds;
-
Add
a 0.2 percent motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) to the
existing list of revenue options available to an RTID;
-
Prohibit
the Monorail from issuing bonds until voters approve the
formation of an RTID; and
-
Require
the ballot measure to include a 0.3 percent MVET and
direct that the portion generated within the regional
transit authority (RTA) be used to complete the first
phase of the Sound Transit project then to fund
high-capacity transportation projects. The portion
generated outside the RTA would be applied to projects
within the RTID.
