Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, who presides over the Senate, just delivered his ruling of whether allowing the Transportation Commission to set tolls constitutes a tax under I-960.

Here’s what he had to say: “The test is whether there’s a nexus between the charge to be paid and where the proceeds will be spent … the language from I-960 is far from a model of clarity,” he said. Speaking on further confusion, he said “The president need not decide this question, however, as ambiguities within an initiative are a matter of a court of law.”

He turned down the challenge, so it will not require a two-thirds vote. But, as you can see above, he said the language in I-960 will need to be clarified in court.

Tags: transportation budget

Now, the Senate is talking about whether giving the Transportation Commission the authority to set tolls is a “tax” under 1-960.

“Taxes” and “fees” are different under I-960, but Sen. Val Stevens, who brought up the challenge, said the tolls would constitute a tax.

They’re going to go on with other amendments while Lt. Gov. Brad Owen comes up with a ruling.

Now, an amendment from Sen. Janea Holmquist. The amendment would restore money to the rail budget. Sen. Mark Schoessler said reducing the rail money constitutes “stealing.” But Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said the state is using some money from the fund because it’s been sitting unused. She said it won’t delay any projects.

The amendment failed.

Tags: transportation budget

The Senate is getting ready to debate their transportation budget now — it’s live on TVW and tvw.org.

Refresh your page and I’ll update the debate here.

Sen. Mike Carrell is offering an amendment to remove the authority to set toll rates from the Transportation Commission.

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said giving the commission the authority to set rates for tolls is merely in compliance with I-960, which prevents the Legislature from raising taxes without a two-thirds vote.

Sen. Pam Roach said giving away toll-setting authority is the Legislature’s way of shirking its duty. Sen. Chris Marr said the Transportation Commission has members from all over the state, and that they take a lot of public comment, so they’re better suited to set tolls. The debate continues!

The amendment failed. In his closing speech, Carrell said something along the lines of “failing to pass this amendment is voting to pass the buck.”

Here’s where to find the bill and all the amendments.

I’m now going to make a new post so it’s easier to follow along.

Tags: transportation budget

The press conference for the roll-out of the Senate transportation budget is on TVW now — or tvw.org, of course.

Right now, Sen. Fred Jarrett is discussing how to fund the transportation system. “We are seriously underfunding upkeep,” he said, among other things. He said the gas tax, the source of transportation funding, is undermined by encouraging public transportation, which he indicated isn’t logical.

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen: “As disappointed as I am in rail … we believe we are in a good situation to get money from the federal stimulus… Rail is part of the future but unfortunately we had to give up some of our bonding capability” to the capital budget, she said.

Now, the questions.

To questions about the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement, Haugen said they mentioned it in the budget, which means the department can begin preliminary work. They won’t begin any boring for the “deep-bore” tunnel, she said — just the leg work.

This is from Sen. Jim Honeyford’s Twitter (I corrected the spelling from Twitter abbreviations): “Senate transportation budget DOES NOT close the Goldendale license office. Also includes $5 opt out on vehicle license fees to got to state parks.”

That “opt out” part is thought to be critical to saving parks because it is expected to net more than the current opt-in system, though Republicans at last week’s media availability characterized it as a tax (subject to I-960 challenges), since many people do not opt-out (perhaps because they don’t see the option).

Tags: transportation budget

The Senate just passed the bill that details where all the federal transportation stimulus money will go. The money came yesterday and, as Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen pointed out, the spend-it-in-120-days-or-lose-it clock is already ticking.

Here is the complete list.

Tags: federal stimulus

I’m listening to the Transportation Project Funding press conference, where lawmakers are discussing plans for using federal stimulus money for $300 million in transportation projects around the state.

Rep. Judy Clibborn said they chose not to fund any projects on local lists. (Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said this morning that he was disappointed that none of Seattle’s projects made the list.)

“Make sure you look at the local list so that you know the full picture,” she said.

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said the bill would act fast: “By June, there will be people working,” she said. “There won’t be many places in this state that won’t have construction projects.” In fact, she said to the audience of reporters, she was sure they’d be soon writing about the traffic in their cities and towns.

Sen. Chris Marr: “As you probably noted, I don’t have a project in here in my district,” he said. But he feels strongly about the package because they chose the transportation projects with the highest impact. “If I was writing this list as a PR exercise to get votes on the floor, it might look a little different.”

“There are a few things that we will be able to point to and say, the stimulus did this,” Clibborn said. She cited the I-90 corridor. “It is a way to say that we are committed to preserving what we have.”

Clibborn, addressing the lack of funding for Seattle projects, said no promises had been made. “There is no apology on my part for an agreement that I didn’t make… We have no local projects on (our list),” she said. “I have not been able to understand why the mayor has stood before the cameras” and said the money was taken out without his knowing, she said.

Tags: Jobs, transportation

I wrote yesterday about an exchange between Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen and the panel explaining the deep-bore Viaduct-replacement tunnel. In short: She disputed the Legislature’s funding commitment and said tolling would have to make up the cost difference.

Today, Jen Huntley reminded me that on last week’s The Impact, she interviewed transportation leaders. And they talked about tolls. Here’s the clip:

Tags: Budget, transportation, tunnel, Viaduct