Voters will have another chance in November to reject a move to cut money earmarked for improving Washington highways.
The 2005 Legislature gave us a plan to improve roads, bridges and ferries around the state. Legislators planned to pay for it with a combination of increased gasoline taxes and vehicle weight fees.
Then, voters rejected Initiative 912, a measure to eliminate the increase in fuel taxes.
Now, we may face another attempt to cut money for the package in Initiative 917, which would eliminate the weight-fee part of the package under the familiar mantra of “30-dollar car tabs.” The measure would eliminate all fees charged on top of the basic $30 fee for licensing a vehicle.
That would cut several million dollars a year from the highway package.
Last year, proponents of I-912 argued that the measure would leave the weight fee part of the package in place. Now, proponents of I-917 tell us that this year’s measure would leave the fuel-tax increases in place.
Still, there would be less money to make highways safer and improve the “choke points” that slow down traffic on our highways.
The Washington State Department of Transportation has a list of highway improvements in all parts of the state. With less money, the state will get through its list at a slower pace.
It can’t happen here
The U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed mid-decade redrawing of Texas Congressional districts.
After Republicans took control of the Texas Legislature in 2003, they redrew the state’s political map in a way that helped Republicans gain six seats in the Texas Congressional delegation.
Some people worry that the ruling will allow any state’s legislature to redraw political districts any time it wants.
Thank God, it can’t happen in Washington.
That’s because, in this state, the Washington State Redistricting Commission draws Congressional and Legislative districts. Similar bi-partisan panels draw districts for county boards and other local bodies.
Before creation of the commission, the state’s oft-divided legislature could rarely agree on redistricting. After the 1950 census increased the state’s delegation in the U.S. House from six to seven representatives, the Legislature took so long to agree on drawing a new district that the state had a congressman-at-large for six years. Then, after the 1962 “one-man, one-vote” decision, the Legislature took almost a decade to redraw its own districts.
The independent commission’s decisions usually please both Republicans and Democrats and cause little controversy.
Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor. Send comments to entopinion@heraldnet.com.
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