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Senator Val Stevens
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Stevens says transportation budget ignores Highway 2,
dishonors voter wishes, sets up taxes
April 1, 2009
OLYMPIA…Sen.
Val Stevens, R-Arlington, today voted against Senate Bill 5352,
the
Senate transportation budget, and challenged the passage of
the bill as being in violation of Initiative 960.
The 39th district senator says the budget virtually
ignores U.S. Highway 2, Washington’s most dangerous roadway,
while funding spurious projects like noise mitigation on
Interstate 5.
“The governor visited Highway 2, where 50 people have died since
1999,” Stevens said. “She told us that Highway 2 safety was a
top priority, designating it as a ‘safety corridor.’ Yet this
budget offers only window dressing – a few railings and some
rumble strips. If safety is our priority, how did we get a
budget that snubs Highway 2?”
In January Stevens introduced
Senate Bill 5037, to create a Highway 2 Safety Corridor
Account.
The bill proposed taking $3 of the state’s $10 license plate fee
and placing it in a special fund for repairs to Highway 2 to
stop the carnage. The bill didn’t even get a hearing.
“People are dying on Highway 2,” Stevens said. “The least the
Senate Transportation Committee chairwoman could have done was
to hear my idea. We get a lot of lip service about safety, but
very little action.”
Stevens also challenged the vote on the transportation budget as
being in violation of I-960, which requires a two-thirds vote of
the Legislature on all taxes and fees and requires fees to
relate directly to the projects they fund.
“This budget should have
required a supermajority vote to pass because it lets the
Transportation Commission set any toll or fee without specifying
the amount or use,” Stevens said. “That’s the Legislature’s job.
Our constituents expect us to hear them and make decisions in
line with their needs. They don’t want us to give that kind of
power to unelected bureaucrats.”
The bill also would allow the state to transfer capital funds
dedicated to transportation to help bail out the state’s
operating budget.
“This is a bad precedent to set,” Stevens said. “It’s the worst
kind of ‘bait-and-switch’. Voters intended for transportation
funds to be used to make their commutes easier – not fund the
majority party’s favorite programs.”- 30 -
Sen. Stevens represents the 39th
Legislative District,
which includes part of rural King, Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom
counties.
For more information contact Pat Albright
at (360) 786-7519 or
albright.pat@leg.wa.gov.
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