News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 19, 2003
Contact:  Michael Marchand, Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Gov. Locke Signs Landmark Transportation Legislation, Thousands of Family-Wage Jobs to Result

OLYMPIA - With the Capitol rotunda and construction vehicles as a backdrop, Gov. Gary Locke today signed into law legislation marking the start to much-needed statewide transportation improvements.

The transportation-improvement plan focuses on safer roads, alleviating congestion and putting thousands of people to work. House and Senate legislators as well as business, community and labor leaders joined the governor at the bill signing ceremony.

“This legislation will improve road safety, speed up commutes, improve freight mobility across the state, replace four auto ferries, and improve public transportation and passenger rail,” Locke said. “This plan will also accelerate economic recovery. The improvements will create thousands of family-wage jobs. Washington families will benefit from those jobs, benefits that will be passed on to our state’s economy.”

Among the funding components of the new plan are a five-cent gas tax and a 0.3 percent sales tax surcharge on motor vehicles. Together, they will raise $4.2 billion in transportation funding on a full slate of transportation-related projects around the state.

The complete list of transportation legislation signed today included:

Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1163: This is the 03-05 transportation budget bill. This legislation allocates funds to projects and programs for all parts of state transportation, including the state Department of Transportation and other state transportation agencies, the Washington State Patrol, and the Department of Licensing. Specific transportation projects, funded by the “Nickel Account,” are funded by reference to a specific project list. This bill includes both “current law” and “new revenue” transportation funding.

Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2231: This is the revenue bill that authorizes a five-cent increase in the state motor fuel tax, a 15-percent surcharge on gross weight fees for vehicles of 10,000 pounds or more, and a 0.3 percent sales and use tax on new and used automobiles.

Substitute Senate Bill 5248: This legislation enacts a series of recommendations by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation. These reforms and efficiencies include contracting out and process improvements for determining the state prevailing wage rates.

Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2228: This bill restores the commute trip reduction tax credit, which expired in 1999. Commute trip reduction is credited with taking more than 20,000 commuting vehicles off our congested state highways every day.

Substitute Senate Bill 5748: This bill creates a new transportation performance audit board to oversee performance audits of transportation agencies. While eight performance audits have been conducted on transportation agencies in just the past few years, this legislation will focus on identifying potential areas upon which a performance audit should be conducted.

Those present at the bill signing were former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton; Sen. Jim Horn, R-Mercer Island, chair of the Senate Highways & Transportation Committee; Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chair of the House Transportation Committee; Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, ranking Democrat on the Senate Highways & Transportation Committee; Sen. Bill Finkbeiner; Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester; and Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup.

Others in attendance were Secretary of Transportation Doug MacDonald; Transportation Commission Chair Aubrey Davis; Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel; Bellevue Mayor Connie Marshall; Washington State Transit Association Executive Director Jim Shipman; Washington State Patrol Chief Ronal Serpas; and Bob Watt, vice president of government & community relations, Boeing Commercial Airplane Company.

“This is the culmination of a lot of hard work,” Gorton said. “I am proud of what we are signing here today and what it means to the future of our state.”

Transportation Commission Chair Davis reiterated Gorton’s sentiment.

“The governor and legislative leadership pulled off the nearly impossible to come up with this plan,” Davis said. “They should be applauded for their tremendous effort.”

The transportation leaders in the House and Senate highlighted the need for this legislation.

“We had to start fixing this problem,” Murray said. “That meant reforming transportation to make it more accountable and efficient. But before we could unclog traffic gridlock, we had to unclog political gridlock in Olympia.”

Horn said, “With the ‘Nickel Fund,’ people can be assured that when they go to the gas pump, a full nickel will go toward identified projects all across our state. When the bonds on those projects are paid off, that nickel goes away. This is a significant difference from any other transportation package we've seen before.”

Boeing, which is considering the state for final assembly of its new 7E7 airplane, commended the plan’s vision.

“Though times are tough, we must begin to invest in our future,” Watt said. “We must invest in the dreams that are beyond today.”

Regional officials also stressed the importance of the transportation improvements.

“These bills will help us sustain businesses and attract new ones,” Drewel said. “It will help improve our future business climate.”

Marshall added, “This legislation says we are serious about putting people back to work. This will ignite the Puget Sound region’s economy.”

Mike Wedrosky of International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 612, was elated by the bill signing.

“This plan is a win-win. It helps businesses and it gets people like me back to work,” he said.

The governor spent considerable time throughout the session – especially during the final month – working with legislative leaders to reach a compromise transportation agreement. These efforts included holding weekly meetings with transportation leadership since the beginning of session in January. Locke even called an all-night meeting in his office to help bring the parties together.

“This is a very special day,” Locke said. “This plan is an enormous victory for Washington citizens, our economy and future of our state.”



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