Voters May Decide Transportation Plan

Republican leaders say they can cut motorists’ vehicle license tag fees by $45, raise $2.4 billion for transportation over six years - and do it all without raising taxes.

But they want voters to make the call.

GOP leaders today are expected to unveil a transportation plan that would raise just as much money for roads, bridges and ferries as a plan pushed by Gov. Gary Locke, yet would do so without the 11-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax increase proposed by the Democrat.

The Republicans also would cut the fee drivers pay to license their cars and trucks by $10 more than Locke’s plan.

Since the proposal calls for shifting money from the state’s general fund to an account dedicated to transportation, it would require a change in the state’s spending cap, as set by Initiative 601.

Rather than toy with that voter-approved cap themselves, party leaders would put the whole plan on the ballot for November’s election.

Locke defended his transportation plan in his State of the State speech Tuesday to a joint session of the Legislature, saying his proposal eliminates gridlock on the highways without hurting education or other vital services.

“I don’t see any way to do that without a gas tax increase,” Locke said. “I know it’s politically unpopular, but it’s the right thing to do.”

The GOP proposal has been widely anticipated since transportation funding is expected to be one of the hottest issues of the 60-day legislative session that began Monday.

The Department of Transportation has said it needs more than $2 billion over five years for critical repairs and upgrades to highways, bridges and railways.

The centerpiece of the governor’s plan is a nickel increase in the 23-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax, with future increases tied to growth in population and inflation. But leaders of the GOP-led Legislature have repeatedly said there will be no gas-tax increase in 1998.

Instead, Rep. Jim West, R-Spokane, and Rep. Tom Huff, R-Gig Harbor, propose using all car-tab money for transportation uses, rather than diverting more than 40 percent to general government purposes such as schools and welfare and for local criminal justice programs.

A portion of the state’s budget surplus, estimated to reach $860 million next year, would be used to continue funding for programs that relied on money from the license tabs. Local government aid, now $67 million every two years, would increase by 10 percent under the GOP plan.

Shifting money from the general fund to the transportation budget would effectively lower the state spending limit under Initiative 601, which could spell trouble for education and other services. To get around that, the GOP plan would ask Washington voters to authorize an exemption to make the shift without affecting the spending limit.

Giving voters the final say also would prevent Locke from vetoing the proposal.

If approved by the Legislature this winter and then by voters in November, the plan would take effect July 1, 1999.

But getting it through the Legislature won’t be easy, especially since some Republicans favor a gas-tax increase.

GOP Sen. Eugene Prince, chairman of the transportation committee and a supporter of Locke’s plan, said his party’s leadership wants to “escape the responsibility of having to change 601.”

The Thornton lawmaker pointed out the GOP plan, unlike Locke’s, would threaten a cash surplus that now can be used for public school construction, and wouldn’t provide money to cities and counties. He also complained that the plan would provide no money for transportation until next year, since election results aren’t certified until the end of November.

Republicans, who control both legislative houses, have maintained since December - when Locke released his plan - that they would not even consider increasing the gasoline tax. They’ve been under increasing pressure to offer an alternative solution to the state’s transportation woes.

Another gas-tax supporter, Rep. Renee Radcliff, R-Mukilteo, was reluctant to endorse the GOP proposal.

“If it’s the only thing we have to work with, I’ll support it,” Radcliff said, adding she had not read the proposal. “I don’t think it’s the best plan, from what I know of it.”

One area where the governor and the GOP seem to agree is cutting the car license tax. The governor’s plan would cut the tax by $35 for most vehicles and eliminate the tax for cars with little value. The GOP plan would cut the tax by $45, although legislative leaders said that figure may be adjusted.

In addition, both plans would count on increased revenues from a crackdown on people who avoid paying gas taxes, such as people who buy tax-exempt fuel for boats, then use it in their cars.

However, the GOP plan assumes $10.5 million a year in savings from efficiencies in the Department of Transportation, while Locke’s plan assumes half that amount, according to the Republican staffers.

, DataTimes