Tag Archives: Fully Fund Transportation

Freedom Caucus delivers sustainable, taxpayer-friendly transportation plan

In a Wednesday news conference, members of the Senate Freedom Caucus unveiled their new transportation-funding proposal, pushing back on a package recently put forth by the Democratic Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and building on the plan from the ranking Republican on the committee. Senators Phil Fortunato, Doug Ericksen, Mike Padden, and Jim McCune are pushing for a comprehensive shift in how the state pays for transportation altogether by utilizing the existing sales tax on motor vehicles and ending the state’s reliance on the gas tax. A nonpartisan analysis done in 2019 shows that the plan would result in more than $10 billion in funding over the next decade, create tens of thousands of jobs and yield tens of billions of dollars in economic benefit for the state.

“As cars become more fuel efficient, commuting patterns change and new technology comes online, existing methods to fund the state’s transportation infrastructure are failing,” said Fortunato, R-Auburn. “Proposals being discussed in Olympia continue an unsustainable cycle of project lists and taxes, including a new cap and tax proposal, carbon taxes and an intrusive mileage tax. All these approaches fail to address underlying cost-drivers for transportation projects – inflation.”

Portions of the plan have received hearings over the years and even the Democratic chair of the Senate Transportation Committee noted that it was “probably the right thing to do…”

“Voters are tired of paying more taxes just to be stuck in traffic,” Ericksen, R-Ferndale said. “It’s time to do the right thing by taxpayers and ensure their money is being spent on what it’s intended. We can get more resources for roads and bridges without new taxes under our proposal. It’s the responsible and sustainable policy for our state’s transportation needs.”

A Democrat-proposed mileage tax, also known as a road usage charge, is currently in a pilot project phase in Washington. To function as a replacement for the gas-tax, Washington drivers would have to install a GPS tracker in their vehicles, which would then report miles traveled to a third-party. Freedom Caucus members warn this is an unacceptable invasion of privacy by the government and a costly one. As much as 30 percent of the collected mileage tax would go to the third-party vendor.

“Our approach avoids an intrusive and inefficient mileage tax,” explained Padden, R-Spokane Valley. “It’s unconscionable that the state would require a GPS tracker in your car, track your movements through a third-party who in turn charges exorbitant fees to collect the tax. The mileage tax is bad for eastern Washington and will drive up costs for commuters and consumers without any guarantee our roads will be any better. This is the only package that meets the ever-growing transportation needs of Spokane County.”

The Freedom Caucus’ proposal includes protections for the redirected revenues and asks voters to weigh-in with a state constitutional amendment.

“We cannot wait any longer to make these investments and we cannot afford to saddle future Washingtonians with more taxes only to have their investments wasted while they drive on crumbling roads,” said McCune, R-Graham. “That is why part of our plan includes a constitutional provision to protect that money.”

Update from Olympia

Greetings from Olympia,

It’s been a busy week in your state Capitol. We’ve been working late into the evenings voting on all kinds of bills, mostly proposals by the majority party to increase energy costs, raise property taxes, impose new taxes on consumers, and grow government. You can be assured that I’ve been voting “No” on those efforts. Instead, I’ve taken opportunities to speak up for you on the Senate Floor, pointing out the facts. We don’t need to tax you more.

Thanks to the federal tax cuts and deregulation, our state is projected to receive billions more of your tax dollars than we expected. These aren’t my words. Our state economist was on TVW saying the same thing. In fact, the state’s budget is edging past $50 billion, and too many in Olympia think it’s still not enough.

Whether it’s affordable housing, education or transportation, the only solutions coming from those in charge are MORE TAXES!

I’ve adopted a three-pronged strategy to deal with these pressing issues before the Legislature:

Transportation;
Education; and
Housing and Homelessness.

Read more about my approach to addressing these problems below.

Fully Funding Transportation

In my last e-news update, I asked your input on how the state should address transportation funding. The results are clear. In case you missed it, you can read more about my plan by clicking here. Right now, we are stuck in an endless cycle of creating project lists and raising taxes to pay for them. In the transportation package being considered now, I was able to secure a lot of great things for our district, but to get them I’ll have to vote for billions in new taxes, including an $8 billion carbon tax and increase in the gas tax. I’ll be fighting to use the money you already send Olympia to meet our growing infrastructure needs.

Driving More Money into the Classroom

Classroom

There are over 1,400 unfunded mandates from the state on our local schools. These cost money. Conversations in Olympia are focused on how we get more money for schools. I want to know how we can get the billions we are already spending where they need to go – educating kids in the classroom. We spend about half of a $50 billion two-year budget on K-12 education. If we were able to save just 5 percent by reducing these mandates, that’s over $1 billion more for our students. Click here to learn more about my proposal.

Fighting for the American Dream

While our state is in the midst of a self-imposed housing crisis, I’m committed to finding real solutions. I sponsored legislation to make building single-family homes more affordable. The problem is that government regulations and fees are making the costs to build too high. Now, an entry-level home is more than $400,000. That puts the biggest driver of wealth creation for low- and middle-income families – their own home – out of reach. Instead of pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into government-subsidized housing, which costs more per unit than the private sector, we need to look at the underlying costs. Click here to watch a short video and here for a write-up I did on how we can make home ownership a reality for more people.

It is an honor serving as your state senator. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any concerns you have about your state government.

Sincerely,

Fortunato Signature

Phil Fortunato,

Your 31st District Senator

It’s time to ‘Fully Fund Transportation,’ says Fortunato

My bold proposal on transportation funding has received public hearings in previous legislative sessions and demonstrated that it can work.

The measure, Senate Bill 5743, would fundamentally change how the state pays for transportation infrastructure projects by providing a stable and fair alternative to the unpopular vehicle mileage tax proposal. The plan, ‘Fully Fund Transportation,’ uses existing state sales tax dollars on the sale of motor vehicles to provide additional funding for the gas tax account to build roads.

The transportation infrastructure needs of the state are staggering. From the need to replace the Columbia River Bridge to the two small bridges I need for my district, there is a huge need for more funding. At the current rate of expenditure, projects are obsolete before all the connecting projects are done. Rather than reach into the pockets of the people for more tax dollars when they are already taxed to death, especially with the looming carbon tax and income tax proposals on the horizon, we need an innovative solution like the one I’m proposing.

The proposal uses existing revenue and details a plan to demonstrate how expenditures can return more revenue back to the state to help pay for the proposal. Similar to the assumptions used to justify the recent 11.9-cent gas tax increase, the economic impacts and revenue returns justify the expenditure.

Some argue that if you just raise the gas tax, it will do all this great stuff for the economy. Well, if that’s true, why do you need to raise my taxes?

An analysis by the Office of the State Treasurer notes that as more people move to electric vehicles, which the state already subsidizes, gas tax revenue will decline. If gas tax revenue fails to cover the cost of outstanding transportation bonds, the general fund will have to cover the difference. My FFT is a planned and controlled process rather than a panicked reaction to the impending shortfall, he noted. An economic analysis of the proposal is available here.