Washington State Lt. Gov. Brad Owen said on Thursday one possible solution for the difference of opinion over the budget that’s made necessary a 30-special session would be for Democrats to stop extending the courtesy of a proxy vote to ailing GOP Sen. Mike Carrell.

“At some point … you might have to say enough is enough,” Owen said during an interview on TVW.

Democrats currently outnumber Republicans in the Senate 26 votes to 23, but during the 2013 session a pair of fiscally conservative Democrats have joined with the GOP to form a so-called Majority Caucus, which outnumbers Democrats 25-24.

Carrell, however, has been absent for much of the session as he deals with a blood disorder this spring while waiting for a bone marrow transplant. As a courtesy to the longtime Republican lawmaker, Hoquiam Democrat Jim Hargrove has cast a proxy vote for Carrell.

As a courtesy to longtime GOP Sen. Mike Carrell, above, who is suffering from a blood disorder, his proxy vote has been cast during this session by Democrat Jim Hargrove. But Democratic Secretary of State Brad Owen believes it may be time to rescind that privilege — enabling him to beak tie votes in a Senate left with a 24-24 party split.

However, if negotiations get sticky during the 30-special session scheduled to begin on Monday, Owen — a Democrat — believes the courtesy should be dropped.

In such a case, if Carrell is too ill to travel to Olympia and vote, the Senate would be deadlocked 24-24.

And Owen, who presides over the Senate, would have the right to cast the deciding vote.

“I do believe Sen. Hargrove needs to say, ‘Look, if you folks aren’t willing to compromise, I’m not willing to do this anymore,’ ” Owen said. “That’s what I would counsel.

“Sen. Hargrove is a very honorable person,” Owen said, “and what he’s doing is commendable … but it could happen that someone crosses over and makes it 24-24. In which case I certainly would step in and vote.”

Hargrove has given no indication he would agree to make Carrell’s illness a negotiating point, and Owen made clear he was speaking only for himself. But following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this spring on Initiative 1053, the Legislature is no longer required to pass tax increases by a two-thirds majority.
And with the Democrat-dominated House of Representatives convinced the state needs new revenue while the Majority Caucus remains dead set against any tax increase, Owen argues it may take hardball politics to break the logjam.

“I think that would have happened a lot more this session if the (Majority Coalition) wasn’t holding its members so tight,” Owen said.

Critics of the move to appoint GOP Sen. Don Benton to head Clark County’s Environmental Services Department were allowed by the Democratic chair of the county commissioners to be raucous and occasionally profane during more than two hours of public testimony on Monday night. Photo Courtesy of The Oregonian

The Republican majority on the Clark County Board of Commissioners was subjected to several hours of vitriol stretching into the early hours of Tuesday morning from liberals incensed by the appointment of longtime 17th District State Sen. Don Benton to head the county’s Environmental Services Department.

Commissioners Dave Madore and Tom Mielke agreed last week to offer the position to Benton, citing his 18 years in the Washington Legislature and work on countless environmental bills during that span.

The move infuriated Democratic Commissioner Steve Stuart, who complained the hiring was made without going through the usual process of advertising the position and interviewing multiple candidates. While the action does violate the county’s normal procedures, it doesn’t appear to break any laws.

That didn’t stop a two-hour parade of critics at Monday night’s council meeting from asserting otherwise, however.

“I don’t know if Don Benton is qualified — although it appears he is not,” Vancouver resident Bob Carrell told Madore and Mielke. “But the process should have been followed. You disrespected the process, you disrespected the county and you disrespected (Stuart).”

Former Clark County Human Resources Director Steve Foster agreed, noting that, “After 30 years of promoting open competition rather than cronyism to fill county jobs, I have to say that seeing this many people here to complain when that process wasn’t followed is very career-affirming.”

In all, an estimated 200 people — many of whom were allegedly recruited from Oregon — jammed into the commissioners’ chambers for a meeting that began at 6 p.m. Monday and ended around 12:30 on Tuesday morning. Public comments — normally the first item of business on the meeting agenda — were postponed until after a four-hour hearing on a plan to waive transit impact and development fees for potential Clark County employers.

Madore and Mielke, who voted for the change, said there was no reason to keep county staff members needed for the fee discussion until the end of what promised to be a long night of bitter testimony. But the perceived slight only fueled the anger of Benton’s critics — several of whom offered profanity-laced rants.

“It’s embarrassing to be a a resident of Clark County right now,” huffed Sunrise O”Mahoney.

“Don Benton isn’t qualified for this position,” agreed Peter Hodges. “This whole thing smacks of political favoritism.”

Helpfully, the meeting was chaired by Stuart, the board’s only Democrat, who urged those testifying to keep their remarks civil and asked the audience to refrain from applauding or interrupting the speakers. But he did nothing when witnesses swore at Madore and Mielke, accused them of criminal actions and demanded they resign or be recalled — while the crowd responded with boos, catcalls and standing ovations.

Former Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard called Mielke “stupid,” accused both of breaking the law and concluded by calling their actions “bull—-.”

Stuart, who had earlier threatened to end testimony if the comments turned abusive, took no action.

Madore and Mielke were not without their supporters, however.

“Don Benton has been re-elected so many times because the voters get it,” said Carolyn Crane. “He is a balanced, clear-thinking and well-grounded representative of both the people and the environment.”

“The Republican commissioners on this board were absolutely correct to do whatever they could to reverse the effect of the longtime liberal politicians and their cronies here in Clark County,” added Dick Stone. “They are fulfilling their campaign promises to reign in over-regulation, and I applaud them for that.

“Any environmentalist overseeing other environmentalists is no oversight at all,” he said.

“The idea that (Madore and Mielke) don’t represent the wishes of the voters is absurd,” said Christian Berrigan. “I voted for them — as did thousands of others — to advance a particular point of view, and they’re doing a fine job of it.

“Elections have consequences,” he continued. “Why on earth should anyone expect them to listen to people who don’t support what they and Don Benton stand for and ignore the wishes of the thousands of people who put them in office? I, for one, am delighted they’re doing exactly what they promised to do rather than acting like all the politicians who say one thing to get elected then govern differently once they get into office.”

Clark County Commissioner Dave Madore believes appointing longtime GOP Sen. Don Benton to head the county’s Environmental Services Department and abolishing a host of job-killing fees on employers will send a clear message that the county is open for business.

Clark County’s commissioners, the controversy over last week’s appointment of Sen. Don Benton to head the local Department of Environmental Services still ringing in their ears, are expected to further incense liberals tonight by voting to abolish a host of business-related fees and regulations in an effort to attract employers to the community.

“Unless we hear compelling arguments that we do not already know about, we will be voting to remove all job creator fees including traffic impact fees, development fees and building permit fees for any property that is zoned for business,” Commissioner Dave Madore wrote on his website last week. “The unprecedented move includes streamlining the permit process to speed the time to the bare minimum.”

Madore, serving his first time in office, has teamed with Tom Mielke to give Republicans their first majority on the board of commissioners in years. And they’ve moved quickly to impose a business-friendly, property-rights-respecting agenda, including naming Benton, the longtime GOP senator from Vancouver, to head the county’s environmental oversight department.

Benton’s critics insist he is unqualified for the job because his professional background is in advertising and marketing rather than environmental science. But Madore notes the position is largely political in nature and that Benton has spent many years in the Legislature dealing with land-use and environmental issues.

Don Benton

“Any dead fish can float downstream,” he said. “It takes a live, energetic fish to swim upstream. Don is one of those live fish that will go against the flow and do what’s right even when it’s unpopular.”

Benton was appointed last week to the $109,000-a-year post even tough it was never advertised and no other candidates were considered.

“We are very fortunate,” Madore said, “to have an available champion with ample experience in both the public and private sector ready to step up to maximize effective customer service provided by our outstanding staff. Don Benton is well qualified to breathe new life into this crucial department with ample qualifications as an experienced leader who knows how to help our team achieve great success.”

The combined impact of appointing an outspoken opponent of over-regulation to head the county’s environmental regulatory division and abolishing business-killing fees, Madore believes, will send a clear message to employers that Clark County is open for business.

“Our priority is to unleash free enterprise to get people back to work,” he said. “Please spread the word. If you have been waiting to launch or expand your business, the time is upon us. We can succeed in becoming a model for the Department of Ecology and champion local jobs so our community can prosper and thrive again. Let’s get our community back to work, and let’s do it now.”

Tonight’s county commissioner meeting will be streamed live on the Internet at 6 p.m. here.

A provision in the transportation package passed by the Washington State Legislature last week would appoint a work group to study refinancing options aimed at keeping fares on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge as low as possible.

It isn’t as eye-catching as the bigger-ticket items in the package, but a component of the transportation budget bill passed by the Washington State Legislature last week calling for a work group to study refinancing options for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge could ultimately save toll payers millions on that project and be a model for others around the state.

During the 105-day session, 26th District Rep. Jan Angel (R-Port Orchard) said she offered numerous bills and amendments to reduce tolls on the Narrows Bridge, including selling naming rights, extending financing and returning toll-setting authority to the Legislature.

Jan Angel

Majority House Democrats defeated the toll-setting amendment and refused to allow her other bills to advance. However, a provision was placed in the final transportation measure, Senate Bill 5024, which would allow refinance options for the bridge to be investigated.

“We need to have something in place that would prevent tolls from increasing every year on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge,” she said. “Our economy is still very fragile and that is amplified by the federal sequestration cuts that deeply affect our military families in the Kitsap Peninsula who use the bridge. Many families still struggling in this economy rely on the bridge to get to and from work. We simply cannot afford higher and higher tolls.”

The provision in Senate Bill 5024 states: “The Joint Transportation Committee shall convene a work group to identify and evaluate internal refinance opportunities for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The study must include a staff work group, including staff from the Office of Financial Management, the Transportation Commission, the Department of Transportation, the Office of the State Treasurer, and the legislative transportation committees. The Joint Transportation Committee shall issue a report of its findings to the House of Representatives and the Senate Transportation Committees by Dec. 31, 2013.”

The state Transportation Commission voted last month to recommend a 25-cent fare hike beginning July 1, which would bring the price to $4.25 for electronic (“Good to Go”) tolling, $5.25 at the toll-booth, and $6.25 for pay-by-mail.

The tolls would increase by another 25 cents on July 1, 2014.

On April 19,  Angel introduced Amendment 386 that would have kept the Legislature in charge of toll- and ferry-fare setting authority as intended under voter-approved Initiative 1185.

The amendment was rejected. The final bill, which was sent to the governor Sunday, includes language that returns toll-setting authority to the state Transportation Commission.

“While we and the voters who approved Initiative 1185 lost that battle,” Angel said, “this new study will keep the discussion open and, hopefully, allow us to find ways during the 2014 legislative session to prevent future toll increases on the bridge. So I still see that as a victory.”

Angel, who is currently campaigning to fill the Senate seat vacated in November when Democrat Derek Kilmer was elected to Congress, said she reluctantly voted in favor of the transportation package because it continued construction on two new ferry boats, which her West Sound constituents also needed.

The state Transportation Commission has scheduled a final public hearing on the new toll rates for May 20 from 6to 8 p.m. at the Gig Harbor Civic Center, 3510 Grandview St.

The Legislature adjourned its regular 105-day session Sunday. Gov. Inslee has called a special session, beginning May 13, for the Legislature to complete its business of adopting a two-year state operating budget.

Port Orchard Republican Rep. Jan Angel is taking advantage of the two-week lull between the end of the regular session and the start of the special session to campaign in earnest for the 26th District’s Senate seat. With the Senate so evenly divided, what would ordinarily be an obscure, off-year special election will have huge implications for the state.

Twenty-sixth District Rep. Jan Angel wasted no time transitioning from governing to campaign mode on Monday, launching her active bid to claim the Senate seat left vacant in November when Gig Harbor Democrat Derek Kilmer was elected to Congress, succeeding longtime U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks.

Incumbent candidates are banned from raising money while the Legislature is in session, but Angel sent out an e-mail message to supporters early Monday — just hours after the regular, 105-day session adjourned and before lawmakers are scheduled to return on May 13 for a special session to hammer out a two-year operating budget.

“This week marks the official start of my campaign,” the Port Orchard Republican wrote. “Now that the regular legislative session is over I can ask you to donate to my Senate campaign.

“As a 26th District state representative,” Angel continued, “I put the constituents’ voices first in a number of key bills and resolutions. My priorities have been and continue to be creating jobs through promoting a business-friendly environment, building our future through education and keeping our district moving, healthy and safe. I believe that I can further advance these goals in the state Senate.”

Angel, midway through her third term in the Legislature after two terms as a Kitsap County commissioner, has never made any secret of her intentions to seek the Senate seat eventually and, when Kilmer announced his bid for Congress, she immediately served notice she planned to move up.

Knowing she didn’t intend to serve out her full two-year term in the House apparently didn’t phase 26th District voters, who re-elected her with more than 60 percent of the vote in November.

The district’s Democrats, meanwhile, appointed Gig Harbor emergency room physician Nathan Schlicher to serve the final year of Kilmer’s term, and he will be seeking the seat outright this fall. It isn’t clear whether any other candidates will join those two in the race.

In any case, with the Senate so evenly divided, this is more than an off-year election to fill one obscure seat. Currently, Democrats outnumber Republicans 26-23 in the Senate, but Republicans are able to wield considerable power anyway because a pair of fiscally conservative Democrats have opted to side with the GOP to form a so-called Majority Caucus.

A victory by Angel, however, would trim the Democrats’ margin to 25-24 and bring a true majority within reach in 2014.

“I’m running to help make sure our citizens have a good quality of life and can well provide for their families through good jobs and strong employment,” Angel wrote on her campaign’s website. “Good jobs and strong businesses are the foundation to economic prosperity through increased competitiveness and innovation. I want to help with good solutions for reform to limit government regulations that are continually imposed upon business. I am also running to help preserve the personal freedoms and the core values of our constitution that I believe we all hold dear.”

Unable to come up with a budget plan that would satisfy Democrats in the House as well as the Senate’s fiscally conservative Majority Coalition, Washington state lawmakers ended their regular 105-day session on Sunday and must now return for a special session slated to begin on May 13.

Gov. Jay Inslee was forced to order a special session of the Washington State Legislature when lawmakers adjourned on Sunday far short of an agreement on a two-year budget.

Republicans had urged the governor to start the extra session on Monday to underscore the urgency of completing the task as soon as possible. Democrats — most of whom believe the budget should include a revenue component — would prefer a break at home to raise money, campaign and gauge their constituents’ appetite for a tax hike.

Inslee, a Democrat, ordered the extra session to begin on May 13.

At a press conference last week, Inslee also made in clear he expected the legislators to address more than fiscal matters in the extra session. With the Senate controlled by the mostly GOP Majority Coalition, Republicans successfully thwarted action during the regular session on a number of bills important to Democrats, including:

• the so-called “Reproductive Parity Act,” which would require that any employer-provided healthcare plan offering maternity coverage also cover abortion services;
• the “DREAM Act,” which would allow illegal aliens who came to the United States as minors to qualify for needs grants and scholarships;
• a gun-control bill, presumably one including universal background checks on all gun purchases; and,
• tougher penalties for repeat drunk-driving offenders.

The Senate, the majority of whose members passed a budget that would have added $1.2 billion to education and continued funding other services at their current levels without a tax increase, announced last week its work was finished and it was just waiting for the House to send over its budget.

That action will have to wait until the middle of next month at the earliest.

Even as the Washington State Legislature races to reconcile diametrically opposing views in the House and Senate regarding education, transportation and the operating budget in time to adjourn by Sunday, Gov. Jay Inslee signaled on Wednesday he still hasn’t given up on several pieces of social legislation that had been presumed dead.

Asked if he would order a special session to address his social priorities even if a budget deal had been reached during the regular session, Inslee said anything was possible.

“I was elected governor, not dictator,” he told reporters at a press briefing in Olympia. “We’re going to try and make progress on all fronts this year, and all of these are things Washingtonians want the Legislature to act on this year.”

Specifically, Inslee said he’s hoping there’s still time to make drunk-driving penalties even more severe in addition to passing a gun-control bill in the wake of the failure of similar legislation in Congress already this year.

Even more improbably, Inslee is still pushing a measure that would require all employer-provided health insurance plans to include abortion services as well as the so-called “Dream Act,” which would allow illegal aliens who came to this country as minors to compete for needs-based college scholarships.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee wouldn’t dismiss the possibility of ordering state lawmakers back for a special session to consider his social legislation — including tougher DUI penalties — even if they do manage to agree on a budget deal by Sunday.

“I do believe strongly and emphatically that we have more responsibility to the public than simply passing budgets,” Inslee said. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure the Legislature and the governor do their jobs.”

Senate Democrats twice last week attempted to force a floor vote on the abortion bill, believing there is enough support to pass the measure, which was tabled in the Republican-led Senate Health Care Committee.

Invoking the controversial Ninth Order — the same parliamentary tactic Republicans employed to pass a GOP budget in last year’s Senate — Democrats sought an up-or-down vote on the abortion bill. But the effort was defeated by the bipartisan Majority Coalition, whose leader, Bellevue Democrat Sen. Rodney Tom, supports the underlying bill but opposes using the Ninth Order to bring it to the floor.

When that attempt failed, Democrats tried to attach the abortion provision to an unrelated insurance bill, but that tactic, too, failed when Tom and Mercer Island Republican Sen. Steve Litzow — who also supports the measure — refused to force a vote by using backdoor tactics.

Inslee refused to speculate about the chances of the Legislature adjourning on time or the final shape of a budget deal.

“There are probably 20 or 30 moving parts in the budget process,” he said. “At this point we’re trying to figure out what everyone’s priorities are and where there is room to negotiate. Reality has begun to set in it’s time to figure out how to merge several separate plans.”

The governor said he was particularly frustrated by the state’s inability to pass what he characterized as “common-sense” gun control measures.

“We’re better than this,” Inslee said. “Just because they can’t do what’s right in the other Washington doesn’t mean we can’t here. If this session adjourns without an agreement on gun regulations, it would be a real shame.”

Inslee said he is working behind the scenes with leaders of both parties in both houses to facilitate agreements on a variety of issues, and that the social issues are part of those discussions.

“These things are certainly related,” he said. “I don’t think our legislators should walk away from their responsibilities. I know I’m not going to; I’m still optimistic about a positive outcome.”

A series of amendments designed to make the Columbia River Crossing project more transparent were adopted by the state Senate on Thursday, clearing the way for the body’s approval of a total transportation package.

For The Olympia Report

A bipartisan agreement regarding the Columbia River Crossing project allowed the Senate Transportation Committee to move forward today with its proposed budget. With 10 days to go in the 2013 legislative session, the budget was being held up by concerns about some $80 million that is designated for the CRC project despite growing controversy surrounding its design.

The breakthrough came with the acceptance of amendments to limit how that allocation could be spent and require a forensic audit of the project, which would replace the two-span Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia between Washington and Oregon.

“This is a big win for the people of Clark County, people across southwest Washington and for our Majority Coalition Caucus,” said Sen Don Benton (R-Vancouver), the Senate’s deputy majority leader. “All of us want a project that meets the needs of commuters, employers, taxpayers and future toll-payers in terms of design, and also doesn’t waste money. (These) amendments are exactly in line with those priorities, and our coalition stood with me to make sure they will be rolled into the budget.”

Don Benton

Benton said one amendment stems from the fact that the CRC project has yet to receive the necessary permits from the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has concerns about how the project would hamper shipping and navigation on the Columbia because including a light-rail track means the replacement bridge would be much closer to the surface of the Columbia River than the bridge it would replace.

The idea, Benton explained, is to hold back about 94 percent of the budget allocation for the CRC until the Coast Guard issues a permit later this year, possibly September.

If the permit is issued then the rest of the money will be released for further planning. If the Coast Guard denies the permit application, the money will have to be used instead for a redesign of the project, to address the Coast Guard’s river-traffic concerns, and for preparing a new environmental impact statement.

“I expect the Coast Guard will ultimately say no, go back to the drawing board — which would be the best possible answer for the people I serve,” Benton said. “The current design is so low that it would kill many thousands of permanent Clark County jobs that depend on ships being able to get upriver.”

Another amendment would direct the bipartisan Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to conduct a full forensic audit of the CRC project.

“On Friday I was among the leaders of our coalition who called on Gov. Inslee to order a formal investigation of the CRC project, given our concerns about the possibility of fraud, malfeasance and misuse of public funds relating to the 170 million dollars that have already been dropped on the CRC,” Benton said. “If that pressure led to the acceptance of my amendment calling for an audit, then it was well worth it.”

The money in the Senate transportation budget proposal is nowhere near the $450 million sought by the project as Washington’s share of the cost. Benton also succeeded in pursuing an amendment that would prevent Inslee from moving money from other transportation projects over to the CRC, in hopes of coming up with the full amount.

Benton said he hopes to see an amendment that would essentially take away the ability of a contractor on a state transportation project to hide behind public-disclosure exemptions to keep documents away from the public.

“I have reason to believe there’s been a lot of hiding of questionable practices related to the CRC project,” he said. “The forensic audit my amendment requires will uncover what’s already happened; however, we also need to discourage any shenanigans going forward. There’s nothing like knowing its records can be made public to keep a contractor from bending the rules.”

A Cowlitz County judge on Wednesday ruled the city of Vancouver last year inappropriately disqualified signers of a petition that would have authorized a ballot measure on the Columbia River Crossing’s hotly debated light-rail component. The ruling may be too late for Vancouver, but it will stand as a warning to other cities, supporters say.

A long-awaited decision in Cowlitz County Superior Court may or may not result in residents of Vancouver being able to hold a referendum on the controversial Columbia River Crossing project, but it lays down a legal marker for other local governments thinking about disregarding the initiative process.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning on Wednesday ruled that Vancouver must accept petitions signed by city residents requesting a ballot measure in opposition to the bridge, even though some of the signatures were found to be duplicates.

Under state law, only the duplicate signatures may be stricken. But for local initiatives, the affected government was permitted to disqualify the original signature, too.

CRC opponents in Vancouver a year ago turned in more than enough petitions to justify a local initiative prohibiting the use of city resources to extend light rail service from Portland to Vancouver as part of the CRC project. City officials, however, disqualified a total of 606 signatures, leaving the effort 32 signatures short.

The decision prompted 75 Vancouver residents — with the backing of Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey — to file a lawsuit.

Warning heard testimony in February, but before issuing a ruling he requested additional time to study the discrepancy between state and local law.

“Based on that analysis,” he said on Wednesday, “I would find (the different rules) unconstitutional and grant the petition.”

The decision could be too little, too late for Vancouver, though, because the city council in March — perhaps fearing Warning would rule against it — declared the project falls outside the scope of the city’s powers and must be kept off the ballot regardless of what the court decided.

Acting on the advice of their legal advisers, the members said the proposed bridge is a joint project of Washington state and Oregon that also includes a federal component if light rail is added to the design. The city has no authority to halt the project, they said, which makes a local ballot initiative pointless.

The city’s stance might also be unconstitutional, but it would take another costly, time-consuming legal challenge to find out — something the grassroots organizers behind the petition may not be able to afford.

“These people have to pay they legal costs out of their own pockets,” initiative author and activist Tim Eyman noted in March. “They don’t have the luxury of sending the bill to the taxpayers.”

Tim Eyman

Eyman, who has been consulting with the Vancouver group — in addition to organizers in several other cities whose ballot measures on issues like prohibiting the installation of red-light cameras were thwarted by similar measures — believes Warning’s decision will have a chilling effect on such maneuvering.

“One of our most cherished rights is the right to vote,” he said. “For initiatives that qualify for the ballot, the people’s right to vote should be honored and respected.”

In the meantime, Eyman is hopeful Wednesday’s action puts the CRC initiative back in play.

“The law mandates that the Vancouver City Council do one of three things with this officially certified initiative — pass it into law, put it on the ballot, or put it and a city-written alternative on the November ballot,” he said. “Those are the only three options the law allows.

“We all know your biases against this particular initiative and your agreement with us that it will be overwhelmingly approved by voters,” Eyman warned the Vancouver council in the wake of Waring’s ruling. “But your opposition to the initiative and your belief that the voters will approve it do not give you the right to violate the law.”

Washington’s House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a transportation bill that would, among other things Republicans oppose, fund the state’s share of a controversial new toll bridge over the Columbia River along I-5 between Portland and Vancouver. It would also invalidate an important provision of Initiative 1185 and allow tolls and ferry fares to be set by the State Transportation Commission rather than by the elected members of the Legislature.

The Washington State House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to approve an $8.4 billion transportation package its supporters insist is a bare-bones, maintenance-only proposal that includes no new major construction projects.

The package is $1.6 billion less than the plan unveiled by Democrats in February, but still relies heavily on a 10-cent-per-gallon increase in the gas tax that will have a difficult time in the Republican-dominated Senate.

In the meantime, the two most contentious elements in the transportation measure passed on Tuesday are funding for the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project and a provision that would empower the State Transportation Commission rather than the Legislature to set tolls and ferry fares.

“There are a lot of good things in this bill,” said Rep. Ed Orcutt (R-Kalama), ranking Republican on the House Transportation Committee. “And if it wasn’t for those two things, I could support it.

Ed Orcutt

“But unfortunately, I can’t,” he said. “Those things spoil the whole package.”

Orcutt said the deal-breaker for him came when the House rejected an amendment what would have eliminated $450 million in funding for the Columbia River Crossing, the much-debated bridge connecting Vancouver with Portland that critics say is poorly designed and too expensive, in part because of the inclusion of light rail capacity.

Light rail exists on the Oregon side of the river, but not the Washington side.

“We continue to spend a lot of money on something that will put a lot of people out of work in Washington,” Orcutt said. “The whole justification for this $1.1 billion project is that the federal government will give us $800 million of it if we come up with the other $200 million — but only if the project includes light rail.

“So we’re spending $200 million we don’t have just to get $800 million to build a project we don’t need,” he said. “That’s not a deal most people would make.”

“Whether it comes from the federal government or the state government, the money still comes from the taxpayers,” Rep. Elizabeth Scott (R-Federal Way), reminded the House members. “It’s just coming out of a different pocket.”

“This is a bridge to nowhere,” added Rep. Paul Harris (R-Vancouver). “Building something we don’t need just because there are federal dollars available to do it is a terrible idea.”

The amendment failed by a 53-42 vote.

Similarly, the members voted to reject an amendment by Rep. Jan Angel (R-Port Orchard) that would have eliminated a provision in the budget allowing the Transportation Commission to set fares and tolls.

Jan Angel

Angel noted more than 64 percent of Washington voters in November approved Initiative 1185, which clearly stated that fares and tolls were the responsibility of elevated lawmakers, not unelected bureaucrats.

“Our constituents want accountability,” she said. “But you don’t have that when the people you elect are delegating their responsibility to others.”

Angel, whose district includes the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, said she knows the commission will ultimately increase the toll on the span, “And now there’s nothing I can do to try and stop it.” Still, she cast a reluctant yes vote for the overall bill because it also included funding to construct two new ferry boats, which her constituents also need.

“This budget keeps our promises to continue work on important major projects and maintain our other important roads and infrastructure,” said Rep. Judy Clibborn (Mercer Island), who chairs the House Transportation Committee. “It’s a good, solid budget we can go home on and be proud of. It doesn’t have a lot of frills, but it gets the job done.”

“It’s a bad bill that has the wrong priorities,” countered Rep. Jay Rodne (R-North Bend). “In addition to continuing to fund the debacle of the CRC and return toll-setting authority to the Transportation Commission, it also substitutes political ideology for sound transportation planning.

“This state has over-funded mass transit for years because it might make sense to do so in urban areas like Seattle,” he said, “but in more suburban and rural areas, we desperately need more miles of road. This budget continues its assault on the vehicle and the freedom of mobility that’s fueled our economy for generations, and I can’t support it.”