Legislature adjourns again with no transportation fix

Associated Press

OLYMPIA – The Legislature adjourned its fourth session of the year today without passing a massive package of taxes and highway projects designed to fix Washington’s traffic problems.

Gov. Gary Locke and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate laid the blame on the House Republicans, saying they failed to negotiate in good faith and constantly changed their demands to scuttle the package.

“I find it completely unacceptable that the House Republican leadership was constantly undermining their own negotiators,” Locke said. “As a result, the people of Washington are going to have to suffice with continued traffic congestion.”

House Co-Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-Wenatchee, responded that Locke had reneged on his pledge to put the package to a statewide vote.

Both the House and the Senate adjourned without fanfare just after noon as Locke, Democratic Co-Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder answered questions in the governor’s office.

All three pledged to continue negotiating, and Locke did not rule out calling a fourth special session if a deal is struck.

“It’s too big a problem to just scoot aside,” said Snyder, D-Long Beach.

The proposed package would have raised the gasoline tax about 9 cents per gallon, along with increases in trucking fees and a sales tax surcharge on new and used vehicles. That would have paid for about $10 billion in improvements over the next 10 years.

But House Republicans balked at the tax increases and negotiations broke down over the weekend.

Locke seemed resigned about the statewide gas-tax increases, and said negotiations would focus on a regional plan to attack the worst problems in central Puget Sound.

Without the billions of dollars in new transportation money, the state will be unable to attack some of its worst problems, including Interstate 405, the floating bridge on Washington 520, the earthquake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct and the bottleneck on Interstate 5 through downtown Seattle.

Locke said such inaction could jeopardize the state’s economic future by prompting such major employers as Boeing and Microsoft to move their operations elsewhere.

“We’re talking about the economic health and quality of life of our state of Washington,” Locke said.

Along with the transportation package, the Legislature’s adjournment will likely doom two other proposals: Locke’s proposed aid package for farmers and farm workers, and a bill that would have allowed construction to begin on the stalled Tacoma Narrows bridge.