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Two and a half weeks left of session and we have good news, bad news, and just news to report, so let’s get to it.
The Good News: ***Labor Union member on PTBA’s (HB 2216 and SB 6495) – The House version (HB 2216) passed off the House floor last week by a vote of 63 to 33 and needs to get a public hearing in the senate prior to next Friday (2/29) to stay alive. The Senate version of the bill did not pass before the cut-off and is now considered dead for the session. Senator Haugen, Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, indicated to me that she will not hear the bill – we will continue to watch this issue very closely. ***Regional Governance (SB 6772) – The bill “expanded” Sound Transit to include both roads and transit and renamed the agency the Regional Transportation Authority was not moved out of committee and appears dead for the session. There seems to be little or no appetite among members to do anything on this issue this session. It is expected to be, however, an issue that will be talked about next session. ***Transit Radio Exemption (HB 3261) – Thanks to a lot of work by the transit lobbying team the bill passed off the House floor by a vote of 93-0. The bill makes it clear that transit radios that use a telephone handset are exempt from the prohibition on using a cell phone while driving. Now comes the hard part; getting a public hearing and a vote in the Senate. We are coordinating calls, emails, and letters to Senator Eide and Senator Haugen in an effort to let this bill be heard. We hope to have a hearing next week. ***Flag Stop Bill (HB 3068 and SB 6569) – The Senate version passed by a vote of 48 to 1 and is up for a public hearing in House Transportation next Wednesday 2/27. This legislation clarifies that transit vehicles can offer flag stops on rural roads and not have to pull off the road to do so. The Senate bill is expected to pass the House. ***Tolling bill (HB 1773) – The House bill passed off the floor last week by a vote of 59-35 and had a public hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee yesterday. The bill sets a general state policy for tolling and allows money to be used for transit operations, is silent on a limit of monies that can be used for transit, and leaves the issue of transit exemption of tolls to the Transportation Commission – who will also set the toll rates. A bill is expected to pass. ***Taping of Executive Sessions (HB 3292) – This bill would require all local governing bodies to "make a verbatim audio recording" of all executive sessions and retain the recordings for two years. The bill did not come up for a floor vote in the House before the deadline. It appears that a majority of Democratic House members will remain against the issue and it would take an extra ordinary effort to pass the bill this session. ***Family Leave Insurance (SSB 6280, HB 3305) - These bills addressed the administration of the family leave insurance benefits enacted by E2SSB 5659, that was passed last year. Neither bill passed before the cut-off and this issue will most likely be taken up next session. The main hold up is trying to identify a way to pay for the benefits. ***Public Records Act (three separate bills) – As a reminder the following three bills dealing with the public records act failed to move before the deadline and are considered dead this session. They are: HB 2839 would have disallowed agencies from petitioning for a judicial determination whether records are exempt from disclosure. Under HB 3231, the current Public Records Act exemption for records relevant to a controversy to which an agency is a party but which records would not be available to another party under the rules of pretrial discovery, would have been narrowed to apply only in cases of an on-going controversy. And HB 3251 a self-insurance program (like WSTIP) would not be able to define the terms under which an entity complies with the Public Records Act.
The Bad News: ***Park and Ride lot bill (SB 6277) – The Senate passed the bill by a unanimous vote last week and it is scheduled for a public hearing next Wednesday (2/27) in the House Transportation Committee. This bill requires transit agencies that use a park and ride lot that was built with any state monies to enter into an agreement with private auto transportation companies (air port shuttle companies) and non-profit transportation providers for the coordination of arrival and departures. We will continue to educate House members about the problems with this bill and are coordinating testimony for next week’s hearing. Stay tuned to see if we need help contacting individual members about this issue. ***High Capacity Transportation (HB 3068 and SB 6667) – Both bills failed to advance by the deadline and are considered dead for the session. The general problem with the bills is some members considered the legislation an attempt to gerrymander a HCT district. There was also concern that this issue would be looked at a tax vote prior to an election. This legislation amended the HCT statute to allow for the formation of a HCT corridor within a sub-area of the transit district.
Just News: ***Expand Board of PTBA’s (HB 3143) – This bill allows single county PTBA’s to expand their board from 9 to 11 members. The authority to expand is permissive. The bill passed off the House floor with a unanimous yes vote. The Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee seems reluctant to even give the bill a public hearing at this time.
Upcoming WSTA Meetings: March 12-14
WSTA Operations Committee Meeting Please check out the bill report for more details and please call or email if you have any questions.
Peter Thein
WSTA staff is happy to provide information and answer questions. (360) 786-9734 ~ Fax (360) 786-9740 |