5/20/03-Only months after voters rejected a pricey fix to the state’s traffic congestion, Gov. Gary Locke signed a scaled-back transportation package that boosts the state’s fuel tax by 5 cents.
Starting July 1, the state’s first road tax increase in 13 years will go for roads, ferries, rail, carpool lanes, transit and other related uses.
The 10-year, $4.2 billion transportation spending plan includes a 15 percent increase in truck-weight fees and a 0.3 percent tax on new and used vehicle purchases.
The package was negotiated with the governor’s help. It blends a Senate version, which focused on highways of statewide significance, and the House, which sought a package with more non-highway funding.
The action came six months after voters resoundingly defeated a heftier $7.7 billion proposal that included a statewide 9-cent-a-gallon fuel tax increase.

4/29/03-Only months after Washington state voters rejected a pricey fix to the state’s traffic congestion, the state Legislature has approved a scaled-back transportation package that boosts the state’s fuel tax by 5 cents.
The bill now heads to Gov. Gary Locke, who is expected to sign it.
The House and Senate approved a 10-year, $4.2 billion transportation spending plan April 26 that includes a 15 percent increase in truck-weight fees and a 0.3 percent tax on new and used vehicle purchases.
Starting July 1, the state’s first road tax increase in 13 years will go for roads, ferries, rail, carpool lanes, transit and other related uses.
The package was negotiated over the past month with the governor’s help. It blends a Senate version, which focused on highways of statewide significance, and the House, which sought a package with more non-highway funding.
The action came five months after voters resoundingly defeated a heftier $7.7 billion proposal that included a statewide 9-cent-a-gallon fuel tax increase.

4/21/03-The Washington state Senate approved a nickel fuel tax increase April 17 to pay for $4.1 billion of highway improvements and other transportation projects during the next decade.
The Senate plan would also include a 15 percent increase in truck-weight fees and a 0.3 percent tax on new and used vehicle purchases.
The plan still must be brought together with the House’s recently passed $3.1 billion proposal, which includes a 4-cent-a-gallon fuel tax increase phased in over four years.
The House version, which calls for fuel taxes to be spent only on roads and car ferries, would increase truck weight fees by 15 percent and the sales tax on vehicles by 0.46 percent.
Both the House and the Senate bills would impose the transportation tax directly rather than put it to the voters in November. Lawmakers want to avoid another defeat at the polls like last year’s resounding rejection of Referendum 51, a $7.8 billion transportation tax package that included a 9-cent-a-gallon fuel tax increase.
Negotiators from both chambers have said they are close to forging a compromise. The goal is to strike a bargain before the legislative session ends April 27.

4/10/03-The House passed a 10-year, $3.1 billion transportation plan April 8 anchored by a 4-cent-a-gallon fuel tax increase.
House lawmakers, however, have little expectation the bill will survive in the Senate.
The Senate, in fact, is expected to vote shortly on its own $4.1 billion transportation plan, which includes a 5-cent fuel tax increase.
Legislators from both chambers say no deal is imminent, but they plan to keep meeting with Gov. Gary Locke in hopes of finding a common ground.
The House package would raise about $500 million more than their proposal introduced earlier this session. It’s close to a $3.2 billion package put together by the governor but $1 billion less than the Senate offer.
The House proposal would spend about $2.4 billion on highway-related projects and $600 million on such things as freight rail and public transit. It also includes a 15 percent increase in truck-weight fees and a 0.46 percent tax on new and used vehicle purchases.
The Senate plan calls for spending about $3.7 billion on highway projects and $468 million on other transportation projects.

4/1/03-A bipartisan Senate highways panel on March 28 released its 10-year, $4.1 billion plan that includes a 5-cent-a-gallon fuel tax increase.
The plan, outlined by five Republicans and four Democrats, sets up a showdown with the Democratic-controlled House, which wants less emphasis on roads and more money for mass transit and other transportation choices.
The Senate package has the highest price tag of any proposed to date. In late March, House Democrats revealed a $2.6 billion plan that includes a 3-cent fuel tax hike and a 15 percent trucking fee increase.
Gov. Gary Locke has released his own plan as a possible compromise. It offers a 4-cent fuel tax hike as part of a 10-year, $3.2 billion transportation fix and a 15 percent surcharge for trucks and motor homes.
All three proposals are scaled-down versions of Referendum 51, the 9-cent fuel tax increase initiative that voters resoundingly defeated in November.
Senate and House leaders are expected to negotiate as early as this week to find a common ground. Lawmakers say they hope to pass a package in Olympia, rather than calling for a voter referendum, as the Legislature did last year.

3/27/03-Gov. Gary Locke unveiled his 4-cent-a-gallon fuel-tax-increase proposal March 26 as part of a 10-year, $3.2 billion transportation fix.
He suggested lawmakers plan a negotiating marathon March 31 on the transportation issue.
The governor considered his proposal "a jumping-off point, the basis for House and Senate counterproposals." He said both chambers have made significant concessions, with the House offering more for roads and the Senate moving away from an all-asphalt proposal.
Locke's plan is midway between what the two houses have in mind. The House Democrats offered a $2.6 billion proposal, including a 3-cent fuel-tax hike. Senate Republicans haven't gone public with a plan yet, but Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Horn, R-Mercer Island, said he backs a $4.1 billion plan with a nickel fuel-tax increase.
The governor's plan also includes a 15 percent increase in trucking fees.
Locke said he agrees with the House Democrats' suggestion for including an emergency clause so the law would take effect immediately and exclude a voter referendum. Republicans oppose that.

3/26/03-House Democrats March 25 unveiled a 10-year, $2.6 billion transportation plan anchored by a 3-cent fuel tax increase.
The revenue-and-project plan is just a third the size of Referendum 51 that voters soundly rejected last fall. That $7.8 billion plan sought a 9-cent increase in the state's 23-cent-a-gallon fuel tax.
In addition to the 3-cent fuel tax increase, the proposal includes a 15 percent increase in truck-weight fees and a 0.6 percent tax on new and used vehicle purchases. Proceeds from the sale of bonds would also be part of the plan.
The House Democrats' plan would be enacted by the Legislature - not put to a public vote - and would contain an emergency clause so the law would take effect immediately.

1/27/03-Washington state House Republicans have offered to help hike the state's fuel tax by a nickel - but only after Democrats help enact five transportation reform bills.
Those reforms: allowing private companies to operate passenger-only ferries, streamlining permits, requiring performance audits, contracting projects out to the private sector, and changing wage rules.
The GOP proposal could generate $2.5 billion if nearly all of the 5-cent increase were used to borrow money. All of it would have to be spent on highways and auto ferries.
The plan specifies for each measure that fails to pass as written or were vetoed by the governor, one penny would be knocked off the fuel tax increase.

12/23/02-Fresh from the Election Day defeat of a measure that would have raised fuel taxes to pay for highway and transit work, the governor of Washington says he would back a fuel tax increase without voter approval, The Seattle Times reported Dec. 20.
In November, the state's voters defeated Referendum 51, an $8.7 billion transportation package that would have been powered by a fuel-tax hike.
Despite the public vote last month, the newspaper reported, the Legislature can raise the fuel tax rate without an OK from voters. And while Gov. Gary Locke says he isn't proposing an increase, he said he would support a measure that would be much smaller than the defeated proposal.