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Sen. Schmidt
votes in favor of transportation improvement package
April 20, 2005
OLYMPIA
- The Washington State Senate today
voted in favor of a 16-year, $8 billion spending plan that
will finance more than 200 highway, bridge and intersection
improvements throughout the state.
The
funding plan adopted includes a 9.5-cent increase in the
state’s gas tax over a four-year period, with a three cent
increase in 2005, three cents in 2006, two cents in 2007 and
1.5 cents in 2008.Sen. Dave Schmidt, R-Mill Creek, voted in
favor of the transportation improvement package.
“My
constituents didn’t send me to Olympia to balk at the tough
decisions; they didn’t send me to Olympia to hide my head in
the sand when difficult issues come up; and they didn’t send
me to Olympia to abdicate my constitutional responsibility of
watching out for their safety and wellbeing,” Schmidt said.
“Folks in my district are commuters. And they are
seeing more people hurt on the highways while they spend more
and more of their time in gridlock. It’s time for a
change.”
Schmidt
said his yes vote on the transportation budget meant an
additional $75 million for highway 9 in Snohomish County.
“The
transportation budget was going to pass,” Schmidt said.
“They had their 25 votes. But a ‘yes’ vote from me
meant getting more money for highway 9. In fact, highway
9 now receives more total money than any other project in
Snohomish County. This is going to vastly improve the
congestion on that road.”
Schmidt
also noted that the inclusion of real performance audits for
transportation-related agencies as being a key factor in his
decision.
“For
years, I’ve been advocating performance audits for all
government agencies, but especially for transportation,”
Schmidt said. “We need real performance audits to
measure the successes and failures, the strengths and
weaknesses of our system. Without the inclusion of the
performance audits – to be sure taxpayer dollars are spent
wisely and efficiently – I could not have supported this
package.”
The
transportation project list includes money for safety
improvements along SR 92 and SR 534 as well as the Marsh Road
intersection on SR 9.
“We
will definitely see improvements in the 44th district,”
Schmidt said. “But we’ll also see important safety
and traffic flow improvements in neighboring areas where
people from Snohomish County commute to. This is a
win-win for us.”
The
bi-partisan transportation package passed the Senate with a
vote of 26-22. It now goes to the House of
Representatives for further consideration.
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