Jolt
Transit Bill Passes with Carlyle Amendment
Today's Winners: Transit fans. Today's Losers: Transit fans.
Ostensibly, the state house was debating the senate's emergency transit funding bill to stave off 20 percent service reductions at King County Metro; the legislation would allow King County to issue a temporary $20 vehicle license fee with a two-thirds vote of the King County Council.
However, an amendment by Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Queen Anne) killing the two-thirds requirement (he saw it as a concession to the Tim Eyman two-thirds standard for raising taxes, which he thinks sets the wrong precedent), turned the debate into free-for-all over two-thirds voting requirements.
[pullquote]It could actually end up killing the bill, because the requirement was a compromise condition for some conservatives.[/pullquote]
Eventually, Carlyle's amendment passed, which seems like a good thing for pro-transit folks—now they only need a simple majority of the county council to fund transit (which is what they wanted all along). However, it could actually end up killing the bill, because the requirement was a compromise condition for some conservatives.
While the bill itself passed the house along party lines, 51-46, the Democrats don't have a big majority in the senate, where conservative Democrats, including transportation committee chair Mary Margaret Haugen (D-10, Camano)—who made the two-thirds rule a prerequisite for moving the bill in the senate in the first place—may now balk.
Ostensibly, the state house was debating the senate's emergency transit funding bill to stave off 20 percent service reductions at King County Metro; the legislation would allow King County to issue a temporary $20 vehicle license fee with a two-thirds vote of the King County Council.
However, an amendment by Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Queen Anne) killing the two-thirds requirement (he saw it as a concession to the Tim Eyman two-thirds standard for raising taxes, which he thinks sets the wrong precedent), turned the debate into free-for-all over two-thirds voting requirements.
[pullquote]It could actually end up killing the bill, because the requirement was a compromise condition for some conservatives.[/pullquote]
Eventually, Carlyle's amendment passed, which seems like a good thing for pro-transit folks—now they only need a simple majority of the county council to fund transit (which is what they wanted all along). However, it could actually end up killing the bill, because the requirement was a compromise condition for some conservatives.
While the bill itself passed the house along party lines, 51-46, the Democrats don't have a big majority in the senate, where conservative Democrats, including transportation committee chair Mary Margaret Haugen (D-10, Camano)—who made the two-thirds rule a prerequisite for moving the bill in the senate in the first place—may now balk.
