Tag Archives: Transportation

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 gas-price hike from ‘cap-and-trade’ auctions will hurt drivers even more

Sen. Curtis King, Republican leader on the Senate Transportation Committee, said the state’s latest carbon-pricing auction will cause gasoline prices to continue rising, further hurting Washington drivers and businesses. This will also raise the prices for all things being shipped, which is about every item consumers use, further adding to high inflation.

“Since the carbon auctions authorized by the state’s cap-and-trade program began this year, nearly $1.5 billion has been collected – and much of that money ultimately comes from drivers who have to endure paying more and more at the pump. It isn’t fair to them,” said King. “It’s $1.5 billion that they could be using to improve their quality of life.”

King said the most recent auction, held by the Department of Ecology on Aug. 30, is expected to eventually bring the cumulative gas-price hike associated with cap-and-trade – formally called the Climate Commitment Act – to over 51 cents a gallon.

King, R-Yakima, said the gas-price hikes caused by the cap-and-trade program are like a regressive tax because they take a bigger financial bite from lower-income citizens.

“Low-income drivers are not as able to withstand these ever-rising gas prices,” said King. “As gas prices climb, more people in Washington are unable to afford to drive to work or drive to the doctor’s office or do other things that require a car. The cap-and-trade program is punishing the low-income people in our state.

“Governor Inslee’s policy is trying to impoverish Washingtonians into changing their driving behavior by making them stop driving gas-powered cars, and at the same time attempting to make it more expensive for many people to heat their homes because cap-and-trade will raise natural-gas prices as well,” added King. “This program championed by our governor is being unnecessarily cruel to many people in our state by causing fuel and heating prices to soar.”

King said that recent figures on state carbon emissions will not be available for quite some time, noting that DOE’s last report on emission data is from 2019, with the next report due in late 2024.

“How can anyone even assess whether cap-and-trade and all of Inslee’s other environmental programs are affecting air quality without the latest data? 2019 is a long time ago,” said King.

King noted only 11 states have regular gas prices over $4 a gallon – Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

“While most Americans are enjoying gas prices below $4 a gallon, Washington drivers are having to pay $5 or more a gallon, due to the cap-and-trade program, and it is only going to get worse,” said King.

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: State needs to fast-track the rehiring of workers fired over COVID vaccine mandate

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima and the ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee, issued this statement today in response to the news that King County Metro will fast-track the rehiring of workers who were fired for not complying with the county’s now-expired COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

“It’s time for Governor Inslee and his administration to follow King County Metro’s lead and quickly rehire state employees who were fired over not complying with the governor’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, especially those in high-demand fields like ferry workers.

“His heavy-handed and unnecessary mandate, which dragged on until mid-May, is a key reason why our state’s ferry system is woefully understaffed and failing to provide the reliable service people should be able to expect. With the summer tourist season upon us, it’s especially important to boost the ferry system’s workforce as soon as possible.

“Our citizens’ travel needs are negatively impacted daily because of the lack of ferry staff. Everyone knew there were staffing problems even before the governor’s mandate. His firing of ferry workers only exacerbated the problem.

“The governor has finally seen fit to end his vaccine mandate. Now he needs to fast-track the rehiring of workers he fired– and soon – so their skills and experience can once again benefit the people of our state.”

Sen. King statement on Inslee’s call to ban new gas-powered vehicles by 2035

Sen. Curtis King, ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee and R-Yakima, issued this statement following Gov. Jay Inslee’s announcement last week that he will impose a rule banning the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, meaning that only new all-electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles can be sold in Washington by that year.

“Governor Inslee’s gas-powered vehicle prohibition will hurt Washingtonians, especially those who can least afford it. Electric vehicles are more expensive – and that will not change by 2035.

“I do not support bans like this one – we do not know if the benefits will be greater than the expense. There is still much to learn about the long-term environmental impacts of many aspects of electric vehicles. We must look at EV manufacturing, required infrastructure, road impacts and battery disposal options before forcing every Washingtonian to drive an electric vehicle. I do support incentivizing hybrid vehicles, along with funding research of emerging technologies, such as hydrogen fuel cell energy.

“Our highest priority should be to ensure the stability of our state’s electrical grid. If all cars were all electric and we do all the other things our governor suggests, like breaching our dams and abolishing natural gas, we will not have enough electrical power.

“Washington state is fortunate to be able to reduce our carbon footprint with immense working forests and clean hydropower. This is an exciting time to utilize our natural resources, make reasonable decisions, and plan responsibly for the future. Our citizens deserve thoughtful solutions that are Washington-based and utilize the unique features of our great state. We don’t need harsh and unreasonable mandates.”

King serves the 14^th Legislative District.

Statement from Republican transportation leaders on the agreement reached by the Legislature on the Move Ahead Washington transportation package

Sen. Curtis King, ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee, and Rep. Andrew Barkis, ranking Republican on the House Transportation Committee, issued this statement regarding the Legislature’s agreement on the 2022 supplemental transportation budget (Senate Bill 5689) and the Move Ahead Washington transportation package (Senate Bill 5974 and Senate Bill 5975).

“Unfortunately, the partisan transportation package from the majority will punish drivers throughout Washington with higher fees and taxes,” said King, R-Yakima. “It isn’t right to make our citizens pay more to own a car. The higher taxes and fees passed today by the majority party, on top of measures they’ve passed in recent years, will make it much more costly to drive. Most people in our state are already struggling with inflation, and now gas prices are rising daily. The legislation passed today will make things worse. I’m disappointed that for the first time in our history, a completely partisan transportation package has been passed with zero input from 20 Washington state legislative districts. Our citizens need relief and deserve better.”

“It’s disingenuous for the majority party to imply this package isn’t going to raise the cost of living on every Washingtonian. Besides the new taxes and fees that are included, a large portion of the intended revenue comes from the Climate Commitment Act passed in 2021. One integral component of the CCA is cap-and-trade, which goes into effect later this year. This will raise the price of gas at the pump even higher than we’re experiencing right now. Washingtonians are still recovering from the pandemic, inflation is at a 40-year high, and gas prices are already at one of the highest rates we’ve seen. This is the wrong time to be pushing this package forward,” said Barkis, R-Olympia. “Republicans from both chambers had solutions that wouldn’t raise taxes and fees on anyone or anything. Given the historic revenue the state is experiencing, we could’ve built a bipartisan package that provided relief to the taxpayers. With existing revenue, we could’ve funded new innovations for our transportation system, while keeping our promise to complete projects already on the books. I’m extremely disappointed the process was partisan and does not reflect the true transportation needs of every corner of our state. Washingtonians deserve real solutions from their transportation leaders and tax dollars.”

Today, both chambers are set to vote on the agreed upon supplemental transportation budget and the Move Ahead Washington transportation package.

The 2022 legislative session is scheduled to adjourn Thursday, March 10.

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.

King says job losses from vaccine mandate will harm public safety, transportation

Amid news that nearly 1,900 state employees have been fired or left their jobs in opposition to Gov. Jay Inslee’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, state Sen. Curtis King says he is concerned that the state’s transportation system and public safety will suffer in ways that will impact people in his district and throughout Washington.

“We’re already seeing the effects of the governor’s overreaching vaccine mandate on the state ferry system, as the reduction in ferry workers has caused many runs to be canceled and now appear to have just been slashed,” said King, R-Yakima. “Commuters and others who rely on the ferries are being punished because of Jay Inslee’s heavy-handed approach to the pandemic. For example, the San Juan morning runs have been cut from five to two, the times being 4:15 a.m. and 10:35 a.m.”

King said the mandate-related firing of 127 Washington State Patrol employees, including 67 troopers, six sergeants and one captain, is terrible news for those who use the state’s highways.

“Our state troopers do an outstanding job of maintaining safety on our highways and helping motorists and truck drivers when they have an accident or have problems with their vehicles. They save lives,” said King, ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee.

“I saw the video of the trooper based in Yakima who signed off knowing he was about to be fired. The loss of all of these officers, as well as the dispatchers who were fired, will be felt by those motorists who need help on our highways. If and when a motorist is stuck on the side of a freeway or involved in an accident and there is no trooper around to help them, the blame should be placed on the governor.”

King, whose 14^th Legislative District includes the Columbia River Gorge and Satus Pass north of Goldendale, has heard that the vast majority of the employees at the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Goldendale maintenance facility have lost their jobs due to the vaccine mandate.

“If there aren’t enough WSDOT maintenance workers to keep Satus Pass and other mountain passes and vulnerable sections of highways open and clear of ice and snow during winter, it will make driving through the mountains extremely dangerous. This could have a very negative impact on drivers and freight hauling throughout Washington this winter, and it could hurt our economy at a time where there are already major supply-chain concerns. Not to mention the safety element and the potential loss of lives,” said King.

Monday was the deadline for most state employees, all school employees and many health-care workers to be fully vaccinated under Inslee’s mandate. King is fully vaccinated and he encourages those who can to be fully vaccinated, but he does not agree with Inslee’s vaccine mandate.

“The governor’s vaccine mandate has already punished the workers who lost their jobs, and it will soon hurt the many of us who rely on the services that were provided by these workers. Governor Inslee is to blame here. He has gone too far with his mandate policy that is leaving many without a job while weakening public safety and transportation across our state. It could have and should have been handled so much differently. He should have given people options. It didn’t have to be this way.”

King proposes using new funding to fund fish barrier passage projects

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, today proposed that the $196 million expected from Boeing in 2020-21 from the aerospace tax incentive reform bill be used to fund fish passage projects around the state.

“Our plan would allow Washington to finally begin work on an extremely expensive project that will impact many roads and highways throughout the state,” said King, the ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee. “We are required by federal court to remove barriers that prevent fish from reaching spawning habitat, but the state hasn’t been able to identify a reliable funding source to allow us to truly start this extensive project – until now. This plan that I am offering will allow the state to improve fish passages without affecting other important road and highway projects.”

King touted the strengths of such a plan:

Fixing fish passage is required by a 2013 U.S. District Court injunction that requires the state to significantly increase the effort for removing state-owned culverts that block habitat for salmon and steelhead by 2030. (In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 4-4 on the case, leaving the lower court order in place.)
The plan’s first priority would be to fix fish passages that open the most amount of habitat.
The plan’s secondary priority would allow the state Department of Transportation to move fish passage projects up the priority list depending on partnership opportunities, prioritizing projects with no or low downstream barriers, project readiness, geographic bundling, fixing the most degraded culverts first and input from the public particularly affected tribes.
Increasing salmon habitat should increase the amount of salmon.
Increasing the amount of salmon should increase the amount of orca.
Increasing the amount of salmon should benefit tribal members who so heavily depend on salmon resources.
Increasing the amount of salmon should benefit the recreational and commercial fishing communities.

Funding a capital program like salmon habitat remediation would allow maximum flexibility if the Boeing/Airbus WTO dispute is resolved and aerospace could once again obtain a tax incentive ending the proposed revenue stream for this fish barrier fix. Funding salaries and operating programs create a “bow wave” effect with the budget. However, funding capital projects can be done as money is available. If the aerospace money source ends, the fish passage obligation does not and it would just require finding an additional funding source.

Along with Sen. Marko Liias (D-Lynnwood), King is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 6690, which would capture the projected $196 million from Boeing during 2020-21. It is possible that the projected funds could be cut short if the bill’s trigger mechanism is activated through settlement of the WTO dispute. However, it is also possible that more fish passage could be remediated since the $196 million only accounts for expected revenue from the Boeing portion of the aerospace sector.

To see a state Department of Transportation table of the fish passage projects that could be funded by this plan, click here. To see a table by WSDOT that shows fish passage projects along with their costs, click here.