Legislature urged to avoid public vote on roads plan

By David Ammons

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Both houses of the Legislature are putting transportation bills on a fast track this year, rushing through reform bills in the first week of the session and beginning the search for how to pay the multibillion-dollar price tag.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Transportation subcommittee, and Boeing executive Alan Mulally both came to Olympia with the same message: Pass a transportation measure quickly in the Legislature rather than putting it on the statewide ballot.

Both said the state’s severe traffic congestion is the top issue facing the Washington economy, and it’s time to stop just talking about the problem.

Democratic leaders in both houses said they are committed to pressing for action, but conceded that it’s still anybody’s guess whether the tax question will be resolved in Olympia or on the ballot.

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, has laid out a fast-track approach that stages it this way: Transportation reform and efficiency bills pass this week, regional financing legislation surfaces next week, and a revenue bill is up for discussion in week three of the session.

The efficiency bills seem on track, but the other two apparently will take more time.

The Senate passed six efficiency bills on Wednesday, and similar legislation moved out of the House Transportation Committee. The House plans to pass the reform measures on Friday. Negotiators then will iron out differences between the two houses.

But House Transportation Committee chairwoman Ruth Fisher, D-Tacoma, said the regional legislation won’t hit the House floor next week. She added that Democrats are far from agreement on a tax package — both its size and whether all or part goes on the ballot.

"I know how tough it’s going to be" to reach a consensus on the revenue package, she said.

Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, said the Senate won’t take the first vote on state highway taxes.

Gov. Gary Locke has proposed an $8.5 billion statewide construction package, coupled with locally-funded projects in the central Puget Sound region, where the worst congestion exists. His plan includes a 9-cent increase in the 23-cent-a-gallon gas tax.

Locke wants a vote in Olympia. Mulally and Murray agreed, although they didn’t expressly endorse the particulars of his revenue package.

"The Legislature should take care of it here in Olympia," said Mulally, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Boeing might not help finance a ballot campaign if lawmakers place it before the voters, he indicated.

Murray, who met with the majority Democratic caucuses and House Minority Leader Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee, told reporters, "My personal feeling is that voters want them to step up to the plate, to vote their conscience for their districts, to approve a transportation package.

"They have got to be leaders," she said, and not worry about initiative guru Tim Eyman, who has vowed to force a public vote anyway.

Murray said if the state approves a revenue package, she can secure a large amount of federal matching money. On many projects, the federal match is 80 cents for every 20 cents the state puts up, she said.

Locke was delighted with the lobbying help, said spokesman Pearse Edwards.

"We need action, and we need action in this legislative session," he said.

The House efficiency legislation, House Bill 2304, would: