How did lawmakers miss Sound Transit’s car tab formula?

It’s a question taxpayers across the region may be asking themselves when they get their car tab bill. How did no one — not even our elected representatives — notice Sound Transit’s algorithm to determine car values?

Related: Sound Transit CFO’s explanation confuses car-tab issue even more

In a Senate hearing on Monday, Senator Marko Liias (D-Lynnwood) asked Senator Steve O’Ban (R-University Place), who is sponsoring two bills in response to voter sticker shock, why he himself voted for the transportation bill that authorized the Sound Transit 3 tax package.

“We spent four or five months working through these details,” Liias pointed out. “So I’m wondering why you didn’t raise these questions at that time. We had a lot of hearings on that transportation bill; you and I both voted for it. Why didn’t you raise these objections at the time?”

Not so fast.

The bill, which he believes came from Sound Transit, was unconstitutionally drafted, O’Ban claims. He further explained that all bills, according to the state constitution and drafting manual, must be resubmitted in their entirety when an amendment is made.

Related: Fee increase on car tabs is ‘our fault’

“This bill did not do that,” O’Ban said. “It did not set forth that statute. All it referenced was a chapter heading. You could not tell, as a reasonable lawmaker looking at that bill that the intent of Sound Transit was to resurrect a repealed, dead formula that the voters have rejected twice.”

There was no response to O’Ban’s claim. Public comment immediately followed his answer.

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