Both the House and Senate Transportation Chairs released their respective budgets, held public hearings, and then passed their budgets out of committee. Budget negotiators will now go to conference committee to negotiate differences between the two budgets.

HB 2469, Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island) and SB 6106, Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-Lake Stevens), treat cities well by appropriating a total of $9.3 billion for the 2017-2019 supplemental budget, an increase of $826 million from the 2017-19 enacted budget. The increase is primarily attributable to reappropriated funds from the previous biennium for delayed capital activity and incorporation of transportation-related compensation and central agency service charge items originally provided for in the 2017-19 biennial operating budget. This increase is based on the February 2018 forecast, which includes a slight upward revision in state revenue collections due to higher-than-expected fuel tax collections and increases in collections from licenses, permits and fees.

Both budgets maintain the Connecting Washington package funding, including advancement of some projects, primarily to align with other corridor construction work.

Both budgets also include the following provisos:

• Identical budget provisos task the Joint Transportation Committee (JTC) with studying the current state of city transportation funding, identifying emerging issues, and recommending funding sources to meet current and future needs. The provisos propose $360,000 for JTC to conduct this study, with a report due June 30, 2019. Funding is from the cities’ statewide fuel tax distribution dedicated solely to studies. AWC supported the inclusion of this study and thanks both the House and Senate Transportation Committees for prioritizing this important effort. We look forward to the conversations that will emerge from this work and its recommendations.
• A House budget proviso tasks the JTC with studying the capital needs of public transportation systems operated by public transportation benefit areas, metropolitan municipal corporations, cities, counties and county transportation authorities. The study will include an inventory of each agency’s fleet, facilities, and replacement and expansion needs. The study will also look at funding sources available to cover these costs. AWC supports efforts to highlight our public transportation system needs and looks forward to seeing whether the final transportation budget includes this study.
• A proviso in the Senate budget tasks the JTC with studying the regulation of transportation network companies (TNCs) in Washington. Past legislative efforts over multiple years to consolidate the regulation of TNCs have not been successful. The proviso appropriates $255,000 to study the regulatory framework used by local jurisdictions within Washington and in other states, evaluate the most effective public safety aspects of a regulatory framework, and assess the most efficient and effective regulatory structures for TNCs. The JTC must provide its findings and recommendations by January 14, 2019.

See the detailed budget reports and narratives.