This year’s state legislative session was extended into double overtime ending Saturday, June 29, in the early evening. Gov. Jay Inslee signed the $33 billion budget into law the following day.
On the Thursday before the end of the session, former Federal Way mayor and now 30th District legislator Linda Kochmar took to the House floor to passionately argue against a transportation bill that would enhance transportation on two fronts and preserve current levels of Metro Transit service.
And what was she arguing about? A proposal of 10.4 cents a gallon tax to the price of gas.
This tax would fund major needed transportation projects including the long overdue connecting of Highway 509 to I-5 and Highway 167 to I-5 near Fife, thus creating a corridor for the movement of freight to and from the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma.
The other project would replace the aging outdated I-5 drawbridge between Vancouver and Portland. The part that would affect us in Federal Way directly was reducing Metro Transit service.
The House passed their end of the bill, 52 to 40, and sent it to the fractured Senate, where it was killed.
So why was this bill’s passage needed?
1. Just the construction jobs alone would have been an economic stimulus to the local economies.
2. The bill would have made the Port of Tacoma more competitive on the world trade market and again improving the region’s employment and economic situation.
3. The replacement of the I-5 drawbridge would have provided safer and more efficient crossing of that segment of highway and there was a proposal of expanding Portland’s MAX into Vancouver, further reducing traffic flow.
This bill would have also maintained current levels of Metro bus service which 17 percent of the service is now on the chopping block that equals more cars on the roads for your commute.
State Rep. Kochmar tried to conduct a short “economics” class on the House floor on how she implemented city planning while mayor. She used a flawed example of someone who owns an SUV that uses 80 gallons a week which would be $8 a week multiplied by 52 weeks.
First off, if you buy 80 gallons of gas a week, I don’t think $8 is going to hurt your bottom line much. The local gas stations play with the price with far more variables than 10.4 cents a gallon. Just last week there was a 15-cent fluctuation right here in Federal Way.
I think that gas prices alone should be more of a concern than a 10.4 user tax. Studies indicate that for every nickel gas goes up, it takes a billion dollars out of the economy daily.
Thinking about what State Rep. Kochmar said, it is a good argument for riding the bus if 10 cents a gallon would create an economic burden. I think Ms. Kochmar needed to think about her example before she spoke. It did not add any credibility to her stance on this issue.
What has just happened is a loss of future tax dollars to better fund education, provide better social services and assist with future road improvements. The list is long.
Thank you, State Rep. Roger Freeman and State Sen. Tracey Eide, for not exercising penny-wise, pound-foolish economics.
Randall Smith, Federal Way
