Senate puts its 2 cents in -- for proposed gas tax hike

OLYMPIA -- Two cents separates a Senate and a House transportation gasoline-tax plan aimed at raising money for the state's roads, ferries and highways.

A bipartisan Senate highways panel yesterday unveiled a 10-year, $4.1 billion plan that includes a 5-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase.

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It was the third transportation package to come out of Olympia this week. On Tuesday, House Democrats put forth a proposal for a 3-cent gas tax increase, followed the next day by a 4-cent proposal from Gov. Gary Locke.

All three proposals are scaled-down versions of Referendum 51, the 9-cent gas tax measure that voters roundly defeated in November.

"There's been a lot of give and take on this," said Senate Transportation Chairman Jim Horn, R-Mercer Island, who was joined at a news conference yesterday by senators from both aisles.

Senate and House leaders will begin to negotiate next week to find a common ground, Horn said. Lawmakers say they hope to pass a package in Olympia, rather than putting a vote to the people, as the Legislature did last year.

House Transportation Chairman Ed Murray, D-Seattle, said he was concerned about the balance between transit and road projects.

But he added, "I don't see those (differences) as insurmountable."

Horn said the state could raise almost twice as much money -- $4.1 billion compared with $2.6 billion -- if they added 5 cents to the state's current 23-cent-a-gallon gas tax. Such an increase would cost the average driver $31 a year, according to a Senate analysis.

"We're getting twice the construction than what we're getting out of their 3 cents," said Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland.

The Senate panel, however, did not release details yesterday of how they would raise the $4.1 billion aside from the gas tax. The House plan includes a 0.6 percent sales tax on new and used vehicles, and a 15 percent increase on truck weight fees for freight mobility.

In the Puget Sound area, the Senate plan would pay for new auto ferries, new car pool lanes from Everett to Pierce County and improvements along Interstate 405 from Kirkland to Renton.

The Senate plan, however, sets aside $35 million for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, less than half of what that project would get under either the House or governor's plan. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels criticized the upper house proposal because of its lack of viaduct funds.

Compared with the House Democrats' plan, the Senate's provides more for roads, with a greater percentage of projects funded outside of the central Puget Sound region. Mass transit and funding for transportation choices get less money, with about $185 million.

But 1000 Friends of Washington said the Senate plan "misses the mark" on balancing transportation choices, such buses, with roads, said Sydney Elmer, the group's urban policy advocate. Her group endorsed the 3-cent plan, but would support a larger package if there were a balance between mass transit and roads.

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate transportation committee, said she would like to have seen more transit included, but said the package was a good one. "We're closer together than we are apart," she said.

P-I reporter Phuong Cat Le can be reached at 360-943-8311 or phuongle@seattlepi.com

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