The Senate Ways & Means Committee on April 8 moved SB 5804 forward after adopting a proposed substitute allowing culvert-removal funds to also be used for local projects if mediation or a settlement between the state and Tribes identifies those projects as necessary to maximize impacts to salmon and steelhead populations. However, the proposal still contains no guarantee of funding for local projects.
The substitute also delays implementation of provisions redirecting tax revenues away from the Public Works Assistance Account until Jan.1, 2026, and it makes technical amendments that change the bill's title, ensure that the overall rate of public utility tax on electric utilities does not increase, consolidate bond accounts, and end bond authorization once all bonds have been issued and dispersed, rather than after 15 years.
Democrats were joined by all but four of the Republicans on the committee in recommending passage of the substitute bill, which is now before the Rules Committee ahead of a possible vote on the Senate floor.
AWC continues to strongly oppose this bill. Please contact your legislators and ask them to oppose permanent diversion of the public works assistance account revenue streams.
Cities oppose Senate’s last-minute plan to use local infrastructure funding for state culvert projects
April 6, 2025
SB 5804, sponsored by Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D–Tacoma), permanently directs funding sources currently dedicated for statewide local infrastructure systems to assist the state in meeting its court ordered obligation to address fish blocking culverts.
The bill establishes new authority for the state to issue tax obligation bonds for $5 billion with the intent to fund projects that improve salmon and steelhead habitats and mitigate the impact of fish passage barriers.
To increase the state’s bonding capacity, the bill redirects three of the Public Works Assistance Account’s four funding streams (public utility tax, solid waste collection tax, real estate excise tax) to the general fund, leaving only loan repayments on current PWAA projects to fund the account. The legislation does not include an end date for the diversion. The proposal would all but defund the account indefinitely and future Public Works Board funding for projects would depend on dwindling loan repayment revenues and biennial appropriations from other sources.
To back the new bonds, the bill replaces a portion of the public utility tax on electric utilities with a new tax on those same utilities specifically dedicated to repayment of the bonds. The bond proceeds will be directed to the newly established Federal Injunction Salmon Habitat (FISH) Restoration Account. Money from that account “must be used solely for fish habitat restoration projects identified in response to the federal court injunction issued under United States v. Washington to improve salmon and steelhead habitat restoration and mitigate the impact of fish passage barriers.”
In the bill’s public hearing in the Senate Means & Ways Committee, Senators expressed their intention to demonstrate the state’s commitment, through SB 5804, to meeting legal and treaty obligations as the state and Tribes enter into renewed negotiations over the 2013 federal injunction.
Cities oppose the bill as it destabilizes the PWAA and risks eliminating it altogether. They object to diverting direct funding for essential local infrastructure systems, given their own significant funding needs, to pay for state-owned culvert projects, leaving local infrastructure dependent on future legislative appropriations. They also note that, despite the sponsor’s stated intent, current bill language does not explicitly allow FISH Restoration Account funding for local projects, which risks leaving in place locally-owned fish blocking culverts up- or downstream in the same waterways, likely resulting in no net benefits to fish and fish habitats.
AWC staff have been engaging the bill sponsor and other stakeholders to identify a better approach that does not rely on permanently diverting revenues that are dedicated to local infrastructure.
SB 5804 is scheduled for executive session in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Tuesday, April 8 at 1:30 pm.