Senate passes final transportation budget

April 25, 2009

Today the state Senate passed Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5352, the final version of the 2009-11 transportation budget. Sen. Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, commented on the bill when it passed today.

“I am pleased that the budget we passed today provided funding for some key projects in our district,” said Hewitt. “They will increase safety and keep people moving around our part of the state.

Sixteenth Legislative District projects contained in the transportation budget include:

• $29 million to build a new interchange at U.S. Highway 12 and State Route 124 at Burbank;

• nearly $60 million to construct a four-lane divided highway on U.S. 12 from the Frenchtown area to Walla Walla – an area that experiences congestion and frequent collisions; and

• $3.1 million for installing signals, turn pockets and a turn lane in the vicinity of the Interstate 182/ Road 100 interchange near Pasco.

“While this budget does some good things for our district, it also contains one provision I hope we can change in future budgets,” said Hewitt.

Hewitt was referring to the provision in the transportation budget that makes state ferries exempt from a law, passed in 2006, requiring state agencies to use a minimum of 20 percent biodiesel starting June 1, 2009. Although Hewitt did not support the original imposition of the requirement, he is opposed to state government inserting itself into the marketplace, encouraging companies to take risks to provide goods and services, and then yanking the market away.

“The Washington state ferry system is the state’s largest fuel user – it uses almost 18 million gallons of diesel fuel every year,” Hewitt pointed out. “When we passed this bill we created a market, and people built their businesses around that market. Now we’re taking away the market’s largest customer. That affects real people with real jobs. We should not be setting policy in budgets this way and encouraging people to take risks and create jobs only to put those jobs and investments at risk. I hope we avoid this approach in the future.”  

For more information contact Senate Republican Caucus Communications Director  Rebecca Japhet at (360) 786-7516 or japhet.rebecca@leg.wa.gov.