37 Transportation Bills Have Finish Line in Sight
Friday was the cut-off in the state legislature for bills to get out of their second house. 37 transportation bills did so.
Six of them were detailed in the list of transit-related bills that at least made it to their second chamber's Rules Committee. Among those, HB 2516, EHB 2745, HB 2815, SB 6299, and SSB 6358 are headed to the governor's desk, while SSB 6614, as amended in the House, heads back to the Senate for possible concurrence in the House striker amendment. The seventh transit-related bill, HB 2639, a school bus safety study, did not get voted on in the Senate, and is essentially dead.
27 of the bills are headed to the governor's desk, while 10 of them were amended in their second house, and have to go back to their first house to get agreement on the final language.
Bills necessary to the budget, such as ESHB 1581 described below, are exempt from Friday's cutoff.
Engrossed Substitute House Bill 2524 and Substitute Senate Bill 6307 are the dueling 2015-2017 supplemental transportation budgets, which will be covered in a future post.
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Rep. Brady Walkinshaw
Engrossed House Bill 1409, originally by Rep. Brady Walkinshaw (D - Capitol Hill), and amended in the House Transportation Committee, would update the circumstances under which the owner of a boat may be disclosed by the Department of Licensing. In particular, law enforcement would be granted access at will.
EHB 1409 passed in the House 96-1-0-0 on February 10, and 43-3-0-3 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Jake Fey
Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1581, originally by Rep. Jake Fey (D - Tacoma), amended in the House Transportation Committee, and amended again on the House Floor, would change the distribution of the $30 car tab to $28 to the State Highway Patrol Account and $2 to the Puget Sound Ferry Operations Account. Currently, $20.35 goes to the State Highway Patrol Account, $2.02 of each initial registration and $0.93 of each renewal goes to the Puget Sound Ferry Operations Account, and the remainder goes to the Motor Vehicle Account.
ESHB 1581 passed 80-17-0-1 in the House Wednesday. It heads to the Senate, and remains alive despite the cut-off, as it is part of budget deliberations.
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Rep. Dick Muri
SHB 1830, originally by Rep. Dick Muri (R - Steilacoom), and amended by the House Transportation Committee, would create the Washington State Wrestling special license plate. Each plate would cost $40 more than a regular plate, and each renewal would cost $30 than a standard renewal. Proceeds after covering administrative costs would go to the Washington State Wrestling Foundation to fund new and existing college wrestling programs
SHB 1830 passed 91-4-0-2 in the House on February 12 and 42-5-0-2 in the Senate Tuesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Matt Shea
EHB 1918, originally by Rep. Matt Shea (R - Spokane Valley), and amended on the House floor, would update various regulations regarding all-terrain vehicles.
SHB 1918 passed 92-5-0-0 in the House on February 10. It passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee, as a striker amendment, on February 26. The amendment would alter liability rules for volunteers operating off-road vehicles.
The bill, in its amended form, passed 39-10-0-0 in the Senate on March 3. It goes back to the House for possible concurrence in the striker amendment.
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Rep. Brad Klippert
SHB 2017, originally by Rep. Brad Klippert (R - Kennewick), and amended in the House Transportation Committee, would create the Washington farmers and ranchers special license plate, costing $40 more than a standard plate, plus $30 extra for each renewal. Proceeds after covering administrative costs would go to the Washington Future Farmers of American Foundation.
SHB 2017 passed 91-4-0-2 in the House on February 12 and 49-0-0-0 in the Senate on March 3. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Steve Bergquist
HB 2262, by Rep. Steve Bergquist (D - Renton), would create a special tennis license plate, costing $40 over a regular plate, and $30 extra for each renewal. Once start-up costs are paid off, proceeds would go to fund public tennis facilities that have at least four indoor courts. The bill is drafted so as to make Renton one of the first eligible recipients.
HB 2262 passed on a vote of 83-12-0-2 in the House on February 12 and 38-8-1-2 in the Senate on Tuesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Mark Harmsorth
ESHB 2274, originally by Rep. Mark Harmsworth (R - Mill Creek), amended in the House Transportation Committee, and amended again on the House floor, would reduce the time allowed for reporting vehicle sales to the Department of Licensing to 5 days from the current 21 days, and specify forms of paperwork that prove the purchaser accepted the vehicle. The bill is designed to clarify the responsibility of owners of abandoned vehicles.
ESHB 2274 passed 95-0-0-2 in the House on February 12. It passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee as a striker amendment on February 25. The striker amendment makes technical corrections and provides clarifications on vehicle transfers that align with current industry terminology.
The bill, in the form of the striker amendment, passed 43-3-0-2 in the Senate Wednesday. The bill goes back to the House for possible concurrence in the striker amendment.
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HB 2280, by Rep. Klippert, would raise felony driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor, marijuana, or any drug from a class C felony to a class B felony. The felony doesn't kick in until someone is caught five times within ten years, or caught again after being convicted of vehicular homicide or vehicular assault. But on the fifth offense, the maximum fine is doubled from $10,000 to $20,000, and the maximum jail sentence would double from five years to ten.
HB 2280 passed 97-0-0-0 in the House on February 15 and 47-0-0-2 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Kevin
Van De Wege
HB 2317, by Rep. Kevin Van de Wege (D - Sequim), would allow neighborhood and medium-speed electric vehicles on state highways with speed limits of 30 mph or less. Currently, these specialty vehicles are not allowed on any state highway.
The bill was brought forward on behalf of a small company that would like to taxi people around the Port Townsend tourist district, on a path that happens to have a slow-speed state highway.
HB 2317 passed 97-0-0-0 in the House on February 10, and 44-3-0-2 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Hans Zeiger
HB 2322, by Rep. Hans Zeiger (R - Puyallup), would apply the authorization granted to rental car companies to separately itemize vehicle license cost recovery fees, as well as other fees and charges, to rentals of a private passenger motor vehicle or a cargo vehicle, excluding trucks that weigh 26,000 pounds or more. These vehicles must be rented or leased for a duration of 30 or fewer consecutive days by a driver not required to possess a commercial driver's license in order to operate the vehicle being rented. This authorization would apply to any business that rents rental cars to the public, including franchisees. The bill fills in a missing definition from a 2009 law.
HB 2322 passed 97-0-0-0 in the House on February 10, and 47-1-0-1 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Steve Kirby
HB 2356, by Rep. Steve Kirby (D - Tacoma), would exempt contracts in which an employer agrees to reimburse its employees for mileage, maintenance, and repairs for personal vehicles used for business purposes from regulation as insurance. However, if the agreement provides indemnification for repairs for a loss caused by theft, collision, fire, or other peril typically covered by comprehensive auto insurance, there is no exemption.
The bill is supported by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner.
HB 2356 passed 97-0-0-1 in the House on February 16. It passed out of the Senate Committee on Financial Institutions & Insurance on February 24 in the form of a striker amendment. The amendment removes the word "employer" from a sentence where it creates confusion.
The bill, in its striker amendment form, passed 48-0-0-1 in the Senate on Wednesday. The bill goes back to the House for possible concurrence in the amendment.
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Rep. Tom Dent
SHB 2413, originally by Rep. Tom Dent (R - Moses Lake), and amended by the House Transportation Committee, would replace the three-tiered fine for late payment of the $15 annual aircraft registration fee with a single $100 fine for being 60 days late. The bill would allow aircraft owners leasing or purchasing tie-down or hangar space at a municipal or port district airport 30 days to produce the aircraft registration.
SHB 2413 passed 98-0-0-0 in the House on February 17 and 45-1-0-3 in the Senate on Tuesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Ed Orcutt
HB 2598, originally by Rep. Ed Orcutt (R - Kalama), and amended in the House Transportation Committee, would authorize the use of certain cargo extensions that connect to a motor home or travel trailer frame, and set rules for their use.
SHB 2598 passed 97-0-0-0 in the House on February 10 and 47-0-0-2 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is headed for the governor's desk.
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HB 2599, by Rep. Orcutt, would set a time limit of six years that projects determined to be not ready to proceed by the Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board may retain their position on the FMSIB priority project list. After six years, the FMSIB may remove a project from consideration for any of the following reasons: the project has been unable to obtain the necessary funding or financing to proceed; the project becomes a lower local priority and is unlikely to be constructed within two years; or there are quantifiable issues that make it highly unlikely the project could obtain necessary permits or could be constructed as originally proposed.
The bill requires the sponsoring public entities of the projects removed to submit a new application to the FMSIB if they wish to restore any project for funding consideration. The new applications must be evaluated by the FMSIB in the same manner as those from new applicants.
The FMSIB administers the Freight Mobility Investment Account and the Freight Mobility Multimodal Account, which each receive $3 million per year. As a result of the 2015 highway package, the FMSIB will have an additional $123 million to dole out through 2031.
HB 2599 passed 98-0-0-0 in the House on February 17 and 47-0-0-2 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is headed for the governor's desk.
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Rep. JD Rossetti
HB 2651, by Rep. JD Rossetti (D - Longview), would place the maximum gross weights in the fields of a table in state law that are currently blank, and place the formula for calculating the federal code weight limits in statute, thereby applying federal highway vehicle weight limits to all state highways.
HB 2651 passed 98-0-0-0 in the House on February 16 and 46-0-1-2 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is headed for the governor's desk.
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Rep. Mary Dye
HB 2807, by Rep. Mary Dye (R - Pomeroy), would designate a new 4.5-mile heavy-haul corridor on State Route 128 from the Idaho border, continuing onto State Route 193, and ending at the Port of Wilma. WSDOT would be authorized to issue special permits to overweight vehicles not exceeding 129,000 pounds in the heavy-haul corridor as long as certain other federal and state requirements are met.
HB 2807 passed 96-0-0-1 in the House on February 12 and 46-1-0-2 in the Senate on Tuesday. It is headed for the governor's desk.
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Rep. Judy Clibborn
SHB 2884, originally by Rep. Judy Clibborn (D - Mercer Island), and amended by the House Transportation Committee, would allow a business & occupation tax credit or public utility tax credit for alternative fuel commercial vehicles acquired through a lease agreement, with the same credit value as for purchased vehicles.
SHB 2884 passed 98-0-0-0 in the House on February 17 and 48-0-0-1 in the Senate on Wednesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Rep. Mia Gregerson
HB 2918, by Rep. Mia Gregerson (D - SeaTac), would authorize cities to establish and administer their own traffic schools, free from the control of any county.
For those who have to go through classes at these schools, not having to travel far across the county would be welcome relief. King County's traffic schools are in Kent, Federal Way, and Black Diamond.
HB 2918 passed 87-9-0-1 in the House on February 11 and 48-0-0-1 in the Senate Friday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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SENATE BILLS
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Sen. Mike Padden
Senate Bill 5046, by Sen. Mike Padden (R - Spokane Valley), and requested by the Statute Law Committee, would allow the Governor to appoint a proxy representative on the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, and also allow the governor to choose someone other than that proxy to preside over the WTSC in the governor's stead. These are traditional powers of the governor, but were inadvertently left out of codification of a law passed in 1982.
SB 5046 passed the Senate 49-0-0-0 on February 5 and 96-0-0-2 in the House on March 3. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Sen. Mark Mullet
SSB 6120, originally by Sen. Mark Mullet (D - Issaquah), and amended in the Senate Transportation Committee, would exempt vessels with motors that draw 250 watts (0.33 mechanical horsepower) or less that propel the vehicle no faster than 10 miles per hour from having to register with the state.
SSB passed 47-0-0-2 in the Senate on February 17. It was amended in the House Transportation Committee to limit the use of these electrified paddle boats to waters within the territorial limits of the state of Washington and not for use in United States waters or beyond territorial waters.
The bill, in the form of a striker amendment, passed 96-0-0-2 in the House. It goes back to the Senate for possible concurrence in the striker amendment.
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Sen. Steve O'Ban
SSB 6160, originally by Sen. Steve O'Ban (R - Tacoma), and amended by the Senate Committee on Law & Justice, makes it a Class C felony to manufacture, import, sell, or install counterfeit or nonfunctional air bags. Apparently, there has been a rash of ineffective and counterfeit air bags smuggled in from China.
SSB 6160 passed 49-0-0-0 in the Senate on February 5. It was amended in the House Committee on General Government & Information Technology to allow airbags that have not been deployed to be salvaged from cars taken out of service, and reused in other cars.
The bill, in the form of a striker amendment, passed 96-0-0-2 in the House on Thursday. It goes back to the Senate for possible concurrence in the amendment.
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Sen. Curtis King
SB 6180, by Sen. Curtis King (R - Yakima), would create the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Advisory Committee within the Transportation Commission, to address issues of access to contracts in WSDOT for DBEs. A representative of the Transportation Commission testified to the need for such a watchdog role, while a representative of WSDOT asked that WSDOT be allowed to clean up its business in-house.
SB 6180 passed in the Senate 48-0-0-1 on February 9. It was amended in the House Transportation Committee to add a couple more members to the advisory committee and require the hiring of a consultant who has expertise in DBE issues.
The bill, in its amended form, passed in the House 89-8-0-1 on Thursday. It goes back to the Senate for possible concurrence.
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Sen. Mike Hewitt
SB 6200, by Sen. Mike Hewitt (R - Walla Walla), would create a special fish license plate, costing $40 more than a standard license plate and $30 extra for each renewal. After administrative costs are covered, proceeds would go to support the Department of Fish and Wildlife's steelhead species management activities.
SB 6200 passed 47-0-1-1 in the Senate on February 15 and 95-2-0-1 in the House on March 3. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Sen. Sharon Brown
SSB 6219, originally by Sen. Sharon Brown (R - Kennewick), and amended in the Senate Ways & Means Committee, would raise the seriousness level of vehicular homicide as a result of driving in a reckless manner from 8 to 11, matching vehicular homicide while driving under the influence. The levels of felony seriousness range from 1 for least important to 16 for aggravated murder I.
SSB 6219 passed 49-0-0-0 in the Senate on February 10, and 97-0-0-1 in the House Wednesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
Regardless, I heartily recommend that you take transit to and from our party to celebrate the opening of University Link on March 19.
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Sen. Tim Sheldon
SSB 6254, originally by Sen. Tim Sheldon (D - Potlatch), and amended by the Senate Transportation Committee, would allow qualified recipients of standard-charge purple heart license plates to be able to buy additional plates for $40, with $30 added on each renewal. Revenue after administrative costs would go to the Veterans' Stewardship Account to support programs for homeless veterans, establish memorials honoring veterans, and maintain a future state veterans' cemetery.
SSB 6254 passed 49-0-0-0 in the Senate on February 12 and 97-0-0-1 in the House on March 3. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Sen. Joe Fain
SSB 6314, originally by Sen. Joe Fain (R - Auburn), and amended in the Senate Transportation Committee, would alter some rules for county road maintenance in counties of population 400,000 and above.
Counties can currently seek compensation when they vacate roads and turn them over to other entities. The bill would allow consideration of liability, risk, increased property taxes, cost avoidance, limits on development and future public benefit in appraising the value of roads.
In the relevant counties, county employees may complete a riverine or storm water project that is $250,000 or less, if more than one trade is involved, or $125,000 if only one trade is involved. This adds to the current limitations in large counties, in which county employees may only perform work valued at up to ten percent of the dollar value of the annual public works budget. All remaining work, except emergency work, must be contracted out. Additionally, county employees in these counties may not perform a public works project in excess of $90,000 if more than one trade is involved, or a public works project in excess of $45,000 if only one trade is involved.
The bill also eliminates the requirement for the County Road Engineer to keep a whole bunch of records physically in her/his office.
The bill is being pushed to deal with orphaned road segments in cities in King County.
SSB 6314 passed 47-0-0-2 in the Senate on February 17. It was amended in the House Committee on Local Government to allow the board of county commissioners, rather than an appraising agency, to adjust valuation of a road being sold off.
The bill, as amended, passed 73-24-0-1 in the House Friday. It goes back to the Senate for possible concurrence.
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SSB 6326, originally by Sen. King, and amended in the Senate Transportation Committee, would allow automobile dealers and repair facilities to keep the various paperwork they are required to maintain in hardcopy for just one year after the document was created, as long as they keep printable electronic copies for five year.
Dealers are currently required to keep paperwork on-site for two years, and pullable from files within three days for five years.
SSB 6326 passed 49-0-0-0 in the Senate February 16 and 97-0-0-1 in the House Tuesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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SSB 6360, originally by Sen. O'Ban, and amended by the Senate Committee on Law & Justice, would set up a process for the Administrative Office of the Courts to create a plan for consolidation of an individual's traffic fines, including the handling of payment plans, and set up a work group of stakeholders to oversee the plan's assembly. The final report on the plan would be due December 1, 2017.
SSB 6360 passed 49-0-0-0 in the Senate on February 17. The bill was amended in the House Judiciary Committee to add several more items for the work group's consideration, including when community restitution would be appropriate in lieu of paying fines.
The bill, as amended, passed 93-2-0-3 in the House. It goes back to the Senate for possible concurrence.
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Sen. Dean Takko
SSB 6363, originally by Sen. Dean Takko (D - Longview), and amended in the Senate Transportation Committee, would direct WSDOT to consider and report on the feasibility of providing a means of public access to waterways for public recreation purposes during the design process for state highway projects, other than limited access highways and ferry terminals, that include the construction of a new bridge or reconstruction of an existing bridge across a navigable river or waterway.
WSDOT would be required to document in the feasibility report whether proposed projects are in an area identified by state or local plans to be a priority for recreational access to waterways. WSDOT would be required to coordinate with relevant state agencies or local agencies if the project is in an identified priority area.
WSDOT would be directed not to adversely impact any preexisting public access to a waterway, to the greatest extent possible, when undertaking state highway projects, including major improvement projects.
SSB 6363 passed 49-0-0-0 in the Senate on February 17 and 58-39-0-1 in the House on March 3. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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SB 6427, originally by Sen. Fain, amended in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means, and amended again on the Senate floor, would make explicit the exemption from sales tax of vehicle sales to members of tribes, so long as proper tribal membership identification is provided and the vehicle is delivered to Indian Country (a term in federal law that means reservations). This codifies a federal sales tax exemption requirement into state law.
ESSB 6427 passed 49-0-0-0 in the Senate February 16. It was amended in the House Finance Committee to clarify that both the buyer and the seller are required to sign the declaration that delivery was made to Indian country and clarifies that such declaration is limited to only include attestation of delivery location and enrollment status of a tribal member.
The bill, as amended, passed in the House 97-0-0-1 Wednesday. It goes back to the Senate for possible concurrence.
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ESSB 6606, originally by Sen. King, amended by the Senate Transportation Committee, and amended again on the Senate floor, would clarify the definition for wholesale vehicle dealer as a dealer who buys and sells vehicles to other Washington licensed dealers. Wholesale vehicle dealers would have to have office facilities within this state with no more than two other wholesale or retail vehicle dealers in the same building.
The Department of Licensing supports the bill. The issue came up after over 100 vehicle dealer licenses were issued in one week and the FBI and DEA got involved.
ESSB 6606 passed 47-2-0-0 in the Senate Tuesday, and 91-6-0-1 in the House Wednesday. It is headed to the governor's desk.
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Sen. Michael Baumgartner
SB 6607, by Sen. Michael Baumgartner (R - Spokane), would remove the designation in statute of State Route 276 as a state highway.
The highway was never built. The removal of designation would allow WSDOT to declare all the property acquired to build it as surplus, and sell it off.
SB 6607 Passed 49-0-0-0 in the Senate on February 16 and 97-0-0-1 in the House Friday. It is headed to the governor's desk.