Post by ferryfast admin on Feb 18, 2006 0:27:03 GMT -5
Senate Transportation budget gets unanimous support
By MIKE BAKER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Posted: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Web: seattlepi.nwsource.com/
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- When Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen introduced the supplemental Senate transportation budget, she made a point of praising voters.
Lawmakers approved a 9.5-cent-per-gallon increase in the state's gas tax last year to finance major transportation projects, and the measure survived a fierce ballot-box battle last fall. With the $8 billion revenue source intact, senators unanimously approved a $133 million supplemental transportation budget Friday.
"Had the voters not put faith in us, we'd be standing here passing the most negative budget the transportation committee has ever passed," said Haugen, D-Camano Island, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
Washington has also received some long-awaited federal dollars. That money will help the state rebuild roads washed out by January's heavy rain. It will also support programs to provide safe travel routes for kids to get to school, address dangerous intersections and improve traffic flow at the U.S.-Canadian border.
Haugen also tagged $1.9 million to put 12 more state troopers on the road for the next year.
"We're making a few investments, but primarily trying to make sure that we have the accountability and the transparency that people want," Haugen said after the vote.
With accountability in mind, Haugen's budget took aim at the state's ferry system, which required an injection of $13.8 million to address rising fuel costs.
In addition to cutting one of the state's proposed five new vessels, Haugen called the ferry system unsustainable in its present form and appointed a committee to consider its future.
Ferry fares have soared in recent years, in part due to 1999's Initiative 695, which repealed the car-tab tax and took away much of the system's revenue.
This year, Haugen said lawmakers need to take a closer look at how state and federal dollars are spent.
"We're disciplining ourselves also to make sure the dollars are being spent the right way," Haugen said.
Republican lawmakers heralded the budget as a good example of supplemental decision-making.
"We do better by staying the course, keeping on track and not losing time," said Sen. Brad Benson, R-Spokane. "We save taxpayers money and we get more done by doing it that way."
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The Senate transportation budget is SB 6241.
---
On the Net:
Legislature: www.leg.wa.gov
By MIKE BAKER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Posted: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Web: seattlepi.nwsource.com/
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- When Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen introduced the supplemental Senate transportation budget, she made a point of praising voters.
Lawmakers approved a 9.5-cent-per-gallon increase in the state's gas tax last year to finance major transportation projects, and the measure survived a fierce ballot-box battle last fall. With the $8 billion revenue source intact, senators unanimously approved a $133 million supplemental transportation budget Friday.
"Had the voters not put faith in us, we'd be standing here passing the most negative budget the transportation committee has ever passed," said Haugen, D-Camano Island, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
Washington has also received some long-awaited federal dollars. That money will help the state rebuild roads washed out by January's heavy rain. It will also support programs to provide safe travel routes for kids to get to school, address dangerous intersections and improve traffic flow at the U.S.-Canadian border.
Haugen also tagged $1.9 million to put 12 more state troopers on the road for the next year.
"We're making a few investments, but primarily trying to make sure that we have the accountability and the transparency that people want," Haugen said after the vote.
With accountability in mind, Haugen's budget took aim at the state's ferry system, which required an injection of $13.8 million to address rising fuel costs.
In addition to cutting one of the state's proposed five new vessels, Haugen called the ferry system unsustainable in its present form and appointed a committee to consider its future.
Ferry fares have soared in recent years, in part due to 1999's Initiative 695, which repealed the car-tab tax and took away much of the system's revenue.
This year, Haugen said lawmakers need to take a closer look at how state and federal dollars are spent.
"We're disciplining ourselves also to make sure the dollars are being spent the right way," Haugen said.
Republican lawmakers heralded the budget as a good example of supplemental decision-making.
"We do better by staying the course, keeping on track and not losing time," said Sen. Brad Benson, R-Spokane. "We save taxpayers money and we get more done by doing it that way."
---
The Senate transportation budget is SB 6241.
---
On the Net:
Legislature: www.leg.wa.gov