On a mostly party-line vote (Democrat Rodney Tom, D-48, voted against it), the state senate just passed a bill, sponsored by Sen. Scott White (D-46) that would allow the King County Council to impose a temporary $20 license fee to help address Metro’s funding shortfall.
The bill has been substantially modified from its original version, which would have allowed King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties to pass a $30 license fee by a majority vote of their county councils. The bill that passed today pared the charge down to $20, excludes Pierce and Snohomish Counties, and requires a supermajority two-thirds vote of the King County Council, or a vote of the people, to pass the fee. (That last amendment was tacked on by Sen. Tim Sheldon (D-35), who ultimately voted for the bill.)
Republicans who opposed the bill argued that it penalizes drivers at the expense of a few people who use public transit. Transit, Sen. Mike Carrell (R-28) argued, is a “very minor” part of the transportation system, “yet we’re spending a significant portion of the entire transportation budget of the state of Washington on something less than five percent of the people that are out on the highways.” Sen. Curtis King (R-14) echoed, “You’re putting an additional burden on people that drive cars. Why don’t we put the burden on people that ride the bus? When are we going to let the people that use the transit help pay for the transit in a much larger way than they do now?”
Senate transportation committee chair Mary Margaret Haugen, usually seen as a foe by many transit advocates, said she found it “distressing” that the vote was likely to be along party lines. “This isn’t about transit and it isn’t about roads. It’s about people and mobility,” Haugen (sounding an awful lot like a pro-transit environmentalist all of a sudden) said. “We’re going to have to have all modes in the future, and to pit one against each other is not good public policy.”
The legislation passed 26 to 23 and will move on to the house.
