By Susanna Ray
Herald Writer
OLYMPIA — The state House of Representatives agreed Friday to ask voters to approve the largest gas tax increase in Washington history and undertake the largest public works project the state has ever seen.
The tax would add 8 cents over two years to the current gas tax of 23 cents, a move estimated to cost the average driver an extra $56 a year.
The request would be on the ballot in a special election in May or June.
Legislators also changed the transportation project funding list to include the final two roads in a highway package that Snohomish County transportation officials had lobbied for heavily this year.
In a 54-44 vote mostly along party lines, legislators agreed to send the transportation revenue package to voters, asking them to raise $6 billion over the next 10 years by:
The new revenue would pay for improvements to local roads such as I-5 and Highways 9, 96, 522, 524 and 527. It would also pay for four new ferries and a new ferry terminal in Mukilteo.
Originally, four projects that were county priorities were left off the list, which prompted urgent letters to legislative leaders. The letters appear to have worked. All four were put back on the list this week.
Rep. Aaron Reardon sent House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, a letter the day after the plan was released last week saying he feared it wouldn’t pass muster with Snohomish County voters because the projects had been left off. On Friday, he said he believes locals will support it now.
"This is by far and away the best project list Snohomish County has received in I don’t know how long," Reardon said. "This is it."
Rep. Mike Cooper, D-Edmonds, vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said the projects were added by moving money around, based on which were ready to build and which still needed design work.
Two projects in other parts of the state were pulled off the list because they weren’t ready, he said, and another one elsewhere was added. Legislators also increased the funding to megaprojects such as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Highway 520 and the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle.
"I kept my promise," Cooper said. "The team worked together in Snohomish County."
Cooper said the threat of Boeing not building its new Sonic Cruiser at its Everett plant because of bad traffic "helped make the case" for the county.
Local officials had presented lawmakers with a brochure they called the Snohomish Corridor Action Plan, or SnoCAP, which outlined their idea for easing traffic congestion with a ladderlike network of state highways. I-5 and Highway 9 make up the north-south rungs in their plan, connected by various east-west highways.
"No other county or city in the state — no one — brought me a full-color brochure that said, ‘Here are our needs.’ And they justified them," Cooper said. "That carried a lot of weight with Chopp and (Transportation Committee chairwoman Rep. Ruth Fisher, D-Tacoma,) because we were ready."
Most Republicans voted against the revenue plan Friday, saying Washington residents are suffering from one of the worst economies in the country and can’t afford such a high tax increase, and the state hadn’t shown it spent its money wisely enough to ask for more.
Senate Democrats are expected to release their plan today for an $8.2 billion package that includes a 9-cent hike in the gas tax and other fees, without voter approval.
The two chambers won’t have long to iron out the differences. The 2002 legislative session adjourns on March 14.
You can call Herald Writer Susanna Ray at 1-360-586-3803 or send e-mail to ray@heraldnet.com.
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