OLYMPIA…Senator Don Benton, R-Vancouver, fought to include funding for several important Vancouver-area projects in the Senate version of the 2005-07 capital construction budget, passed by the Senate 45-2 today.  Substitute Senate Bill 6094 funds $1.166 billion in capital construction projects statewide. 

“I was concerned about the projects that would benefit our community as a whole, regardless of whether or not the project was located within the 17th District,” Benton said. “I fought for them and I got them!” 

Benton specifically requested, in a letter to Senator Mike Hewitt, the Senate Republican member in charge of negotiations for the Capital Budget, that the following projects be funded:

• The Lewis and Clark Confluence Project – $1.5 million;
• The Vancouver Barracks Project – $1 million;
• The Columbia Springs Environmental Education and Research Facility – $700,000;
• The Clark Center for Community Health – $3 million;
• Washington Wildlife Recreation Program – $90.67 million statewide (six Vancouver-area projects are likely to be funded); and
• The Columbia River Channel Deepening – $17.7 million

“I am particularly enthusiastic about the confluence project,” Benton said. “This unique project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring five works of art by world-renowned artist Maya Lin to our state.  It will attract people from all over the world for years to come, giving a much-needed tourism boost to our local economy.” 

Several other local projects for the Washington State University Vancouver campus were also funded in the Senate’s capital construction budget:

• Campus utilities and infrastructure – $5 million;
• Student services center – $10.6 million
• Applied technology and classroom building – $3.3 million
• Undergraduate classroom building – $3.65 million

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 For more information contact Tami Davis (360) 786-7519 or davis.tami@leg.wa.gov