The recent Supreme Court decision to strike down I-976 will have a positive impact on our state’s projected transportation revenues with an estimated increase of nearly $1.1 billion over the four-year outlook. While the losses of the initiative
won’t be realized, there is still an expected COVID-related loss to the transportation budget of $800 million for the 19-21 and 21-23 biennia.
At the time of writing, there is not significant legislative interest in re-imposing the initiative during the upcoming session but there is interest in car tab fee reform. It is still unclear exactly how that would be accomplished. The legislators involved
are exploring options such as changing the valuation schedule, reducing the amount of the state’s fee, and payment plans for taxpayers.
While the decision improves the condition of the transportation budget, policymakers in both chambers are actively developing transportation revenue proposals for this session. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman, Sen. Hobbs (D–Lake Stevens)
has proposed a package in the past two sessions. House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Fey (D–Tacoma) is working to draw up a proposal, as are Sen. Saldaña (D–Seattle) and Sen. King (R–Yakima). The proposals are expected
to be released publicly in late November or early December.