Tag Archives: highways

King supports Senate’s passage of supplemental transportation budget

Sen. Curtis King, the Republican leader on the Senate Transportation Committee, says the supplemental state transportation budget passed today by the Senate prioritizes public safety and the maintenance and preservation of roads and highways.

“This transportation budget will help make our roads and highways safer to drive because it makes public safety a priority,” said King, R-Yakima. “Our supplemental budget, along with the 2023-25 state transportation budget enacted last year, provides enough funding to add 194 Washington State Patrol officers over the course of this two-year period. This year’s budget has funding to combat impaired driving, and it provides an additional $150 million for highway-preservation projects across Washington.”

The Senate today voted 48-1 to approve the supplemental transportation budget, which makes adjustments to the two-year budget approved by the Legislature in April 2023.

The Senate supplemental transportation budget spends $14.55 billion, including $8.38 billion in capital spending and $6.17 billion in operating spending. The $150 million in the supplemental budget for preservation projects raises the total amount in the two-year budget cycle for preservation to $1.073 billion.

The budget also provides $150 million in new funding for fish-passage culverts and $77.9 million in additional funding for the State Route 520 west end project in Seattle.

The Senate transportation budget funds several State Patrol projects:

  • $5.9 million for a third trooper class.
  • $4.7 million to restore the money saved when there were trooper vacancies.
  • $289,000 for additional toxicology-lab staffing.
  • $250,000 for staff and resources to improve compliance with ignition-interlock requirements.
  • $250,000 for expansion of licensing investigation unit activities.

The Senate spending plan also funds two public-safety projects for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission:

  • $2 million for a grant program to supplement DUI-enforcement activities.
  • $750,000 for an ignition-interlock dedicated compliance staff pilot program.

The House of Representatives approved its version of the state supplemental transportation budget this past Saturday. Transportation leaders in the Senate and House will meet to resolve differences and reach agreement on a compromise version of the budget.

The 2024 legislative session is scheduled to end March 7.

 

King says Democrats’ attack on oil companies is attempt to steer focus from cap-and-trade’s effect on nation-leading gas prices

Sen. Curtis King, the ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee, said Gov. Jay Inslee is trying to deflect criticism aimed at him due to the major role that the state’s cap-and-trade program has played in Washington having the highest gas prices in the nation.

Inslee announced today that he wants legislation in 2024 targeting oil companies. King pointed out how Inslee pushed for the cap-and-trade program, which went into effect on Jan. 1 as part of the Climate Commitment Act passed by a Democrat-controlled Legislature in 2021.

“We have known since 2021, when the Climate Commitment Act was approved, that gas prices would rise significantly once the cap-and-trade program went into effect. That is exactly what has happened,” said King, R-Yakima. “It’s been much more than just ‘pennies a gallon,’ as the governor promised months ago. Several analysts reached the conclusion that cap-and-trade and other new environmental laws would raise the price of gas by 45-50 cents a gallon.

“The governor’s argument that oil companies are gouging gas consumers is not realistic. The plan all along was to create the cap-and-trade program and the low-carbon fuel standard so fuel prices would become a financial burden for drivers and get them to drive less and buy less fuel. Now that the cap-and-trade program is in place and causing gas prices to skyrocket, drivers are bitterly complaining about it, so the governor and his allies are trying to shift the blame instead of admitting that this is what they wanted all along.

“The governor today said he wants to find relief at the pump for drivers. If he really is serious, he’d show a willingness to alter the cap-and-trade program, if not eliminate it. Instead, the governor once again is demonizing oil companies instead of taking responsibility for the spike in gas prices this year.

“Blaming the brief pipeline shutdown for the highest gas prices in the nation is nonsense,” added King. “Gas prices have been on a steady rise since January, and it is caused by the cap-and-trade program. Our neighboring states, Oregon ($4.588 a gallon for regular gas) and Idaho ($3.892), have significantly lower gas prices than here in Washington ($4.928). They don’t have cap-and-trade. It’s clear that our state’s cap-and-trade program is why Washington has the highest gas prices in America.”

King noted that only six states currently have regular gas prices over $4 a gallon – Alaska, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

“While most of America is enjoying gas prices below $4 a gallon, Washington drivers have had to pay about $5 a gallon for several weeks. Thanks to the Inslee cap-and-trade program, prices here are bound to only keep climbing,” said King.

 

King unveils state transportation-funding plan free of tax or fee increases

Sen. Curtis King, the Republican leader on the Senate Transportation Committee, today unveiled a plan to make nearly $23 billion in transportation investments statewide without any tax or fee increases.

“There are important transportation needs throughout Washington that need to be addressed soon,” said King, R-Yakima. “This proposal funds many of those, including new highway projects, maintenance and preservation projects, fish-barrier removal, ferries, transit, rail and other modes. Best of all, this plan does not include any tax or fee increases, so people across our state who are struggling with inflation won’t have to pay more to have a better transportation system.”

Details of King’s $23 billion transportation funding proposal can be viewed here.

The plan uses many of the same funding sources in the package released by Democratic transportation leaders a few weeks ago, including:

  • $5.4 billion expected from the Climate Commitment Act;
  • $3.4 billion from the federal government’s new surface transportation reauthorization; and
  • a $2 billion one-time transfer from the state operating budget.

The key difference between King’s proposal and the Democrats’ plan is how his plan would shift half of the state sales-tax revenue from car and truck sales in Washington, starting in 2023. This shift in vehicle sales-tax revenue is expected to generate $12.188 billion over the 16-year span of the package.

“In the past few years, some of my Senate Republican colleagues and I have advocated for using some of the tax money from vehicle sales for our highway needs, and the case for that approach is stronger than ever now. There is a connection between tax revenue from vehicle sales and transportation, so it makes sense to use that money to address transportation needs in our state,” said King.

King’s plan includes funding in several transportation areas:

  • $6 billion for maintenance and preservation projects in the state.
  • $4.16 billion for new highway projects, including $1.2 billion for replacing the Interstate 5/Columbia River Bridge between Vancouver and Portland, $640 million for State Route 18 widening, $300 million for the U.S. Highway 2 trestle project, $244 million for I-5 high-occupancy vehicle lanes, $210 million for the I-5 Nisqually Delta project, $240 million for a U.S. Highway 12 project between Pasco and Walla Walla, and $180 million for a new Hood River Bridge over the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon.
  • $1.8 billion toward existing highway projects, including $460 million for Interstate 405 corridor construction, $520 million for a State Route 520 project, $155 million for an Interstate 90 project at Snoqualmie Pass, and $434 million for the SR-167/SR-509 Puget Sound Gateway project.
  • $2.435 billion for fish-barrier removal projects.
  • $150 million for freight rail projects.

Under King’s plan, the $5.4 billion in Climate Commitment Act funding would be used to pay for additional multimodal funding, including the construction of five new hybrid-electric ferry vessels. The plan also includes, from other sources:

  • $500 million for transit programs and projects.
  • $440 million for ferries.
  • $190 million for “active transportation projects,” including $100 million for “safe routes to schools” projects and $90 million for a bicycle and pedestrian grant program.

King unveiled his transportation funding plan during a virtual news conference today. He was joined by Senate Republican Leader John Braun of Centralia. The news conference can be viewed here.