Bill could allow walk-on ferry service in Everett, statewide

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 10, 2026

EVERETT — A bill making its way through the Washington Legislature could allow local municipalities, ports or transit agencies to create passenger-only ferry service serving communities across the state.

Currently, state statute allows only Kitsap and King counties to operate passenger-only ferries. The new bill would allow counties, city and county transit agencies, or port districts to create a new passenger-only ferry service district, which would then be able to collect revenue and operate walk-on ferries.

The bill, known as the Mosquito Fleet Act, is named after a network of passenger ships that crisscrossed the Puget Sound throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Under the current Senate version of the bill, the ferry services could be locally funded by a parking tax, tolls, or property taxes within the boundaries of the passenger ferry district. Any new taxes would require voter approval.

State Rep. Greg Nance, a member of the House Transportation Committee, proposed the legislation and said its goal was to supplement existing ferry service by allowing local governments to launch service that’s right for their community, he said.

Nance added that Washington State Ferries has faced challenges over the past few years. Across the entire state ferry system, about 15% of sailings in 2025 were delayed more than 10 minutes, Washington State Ferries data showed.

“We need more bandwidth, we need more reliability before the boats will arrive. Ultimately, that’s what all this is about,” Nance said in an interview Friday. “Let’s get communities moving again. Get people to work, to school, to the doctor, and let’s provide extra bandwidth for Washington State Ferries.”

If the bill is approved, there could be new ferry service operating at the Everett waterfront. In a statement, the Port of Everett said that it sees the growing need to add passenger ferry service throughout Puget Sound.

“We are currently exploring the possibility of adding a passenger ferry to and from the Everett waterfront to increase tourism and economic development in the region, and have been looking into the option for a Whidbey Island – Everett passenger ferry run,” wrote Kate Anderson, the Port of Everett’s marina manager, in an email Friday.

Currently, there is no commuter ferry service running in or out of the Everett waterfront, though the Port of Everett operates a summer-only port-operated ferry to Jetty Island for beach-goers. A privately-run ferry also travels between Everett and Hat Island, the small private island located in Possession Sound, though use of that is limited to homeowners on the island, their families, or invited guests.

The closest ferry to carry commuters between Whidbey Island and Everett is the Mukilteo-Clinton route operated by Washington State Ferries, where ferry commuters have had to adjust their routes due to the ongoing Edgewater Bridge closure.

In a statement, a Washington State Ferries spokesperson said the agency does not have a position on the bill.

The Mosquito Fleet Act handily passed in the House in February with bipartisan support. The Senate Transportation Committee then recommended passing the bill with a number of amendments. The amended bill easily passed in the Senate on Friday with only three votes against.

Nance, however, said the amendments in the Senate version of the legislation would make it impossible to create passenger ferry service and made the bill “far worse.”

“It’s almost as if it’s designed to kill the bill and to sabotage this project,” he said of the amendments.

The amendments would limit an entity like a port or county to creating only one passenger ferry district while requiring newly built ferries to be zero-emission and be built in Washington state. The amendments also require fare policies of the new ferries to match similar public transportation services and add procedures to protect orcas from ship strikes or disturbances. They also include language that prohibits new ferry districts from establishing a sales tax to pay for the services, allowing a property tax instead.

The amendments would make the districts ineligible for state funding to pay for the ferries beginning in 2028. Requiring the boats be built in Washington would also limit the ability for the new districts to get federal funding. Closing the door on those funding options, while requiring new infrastructure investments like electric charging facilities for the zero-emission ferries, would mean the bill “would not work,” Nance said.

“These are going to be literally tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure investments that we can’t get federal funding for, can’t get state funding for,” he said.

Nance argued that most of the boats would be built in Washington anyway, and that there is a need for federal funding to build out the ferry projects. Sen. Marko Liias, the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, who proposed many of the amendments, said in an interview Monday that the requirement to build the boats in Washington would ensure that the dollars spent on the ferry projects would remain in the local community.

The overall goal of the Senate’s amendments was to ensure the new ferry systems would work in tandem with the rest of the transportation network, Liias said.

“That was my goal my goal here, was to get to the goal of more passenger ferries to support different modes of transportation, but also do it in a way that is in alignment with our other transportation policies,” he said.

The state legislature has previously allocated funding to passenger-only ferries in King County to expand services, funding that is expected to continue through June 2027. In regard to the amendment prohibiting state funding from going toward the new passenger ferries beginning in 2028, Liias said he is supportive of passenger ferries that can be self-sustaining, but the primary focus for the state should be on its state-run ferry system, which is working to build 16 new hybrid vessels by 2040 at an estimated cost of $6 billion.

“Passenger ferries are definitely one of the future goals of our state ferry system,” Liias said. “We want more walk-on traffic, we want more of that connectivity. But in the next 10 years, our primary mission is to replace the aging vessels we currently have, and we don’t have a funding plan identified to do that body of work yet. We need to keep our eyes on that priority.”

Liias said the amendment requiring newly built passenger ferries to be zero-emission vessels is in alignment with the state’s other policies, like Washington State Ferries’ long-term electrification plans, to get diesel boats out of Puget Sound to reduce pollution and disturbances to wildlife.

Members of the House and Senate could meet to negotiate a final version of the bill before a Wednesday deadline, Nance wrote in an email Friday.

“The core issue here is the state ferry service isn’t working the way it needs to. We need to empower local communities to bridge the gap,” Nance said. “… The Mosquito Fleet Act would accomplish that, would solve that problem. Now, we’ve got to push back against these proposed changes that would make this impossible.”

“I support the concept, I support the legislation,” Liias said. “I just want to make sure that it’s workable, and that 10 or 20 years from now, it’s still being developed and implemented in a way that’s fair … I want to make sure that a generation from now, this tool is still working for people.”

The legislative session ends Thursday.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.