Two amendments that would allow Community Transit (in Snohomish County) and Pierce Transit (in Pierce County) to pass a temporary $20 vehicle-license fee, and to send a fee of up to $100 to voters, to help restore and preserve transit service seems likely to die in the state Senate, whose transportation committee chair, Mary Margaret Haugen, reportedly opposes them.



Rep. Marko Liias (D-21, above) tacked the amendments on to unrelated legislation sponsored by Sen. Chris Marr (D-6). Rep. Scott White (D-46) had proposed an amendment giving King County Metro the authority to pass a similar fee; however, White says he pulled the amendment at the request of Metro, whose representatives did not think they had the votes to pass it.

Now, Haugen is reportedly doing everything she can to stop the bill, by ensuring that the Senate doesn't concur with the House version. (That would send it into a conference committee, where it will likely die). Haugen, transit advocates say, wants to keep transit proponents on board with a larger transportation package she plans to propose next year; if they get what they want now, the thinking goes, they might not support her proposal next year.

Bill LaBorde, policy director for the Transportation Choices Coalition, predicts Haugen will shoot for "as little [transit] as possible" in next year's proposal—"whatever she perceives as the minimum required."

White says he has been assured by Marr that Marr will support comprehensive funding for Metro next year; however, he was instrumental last year in getting legislation that would have imposed a similar license fee vetoed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.