Lawmaker: Failure to adopt Sound Transit amendments ‘disappointing’

The state House passed its bill to give limited relief to vehicle owners reeling from over-inflated car-tab fees.

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

The key word here is “limited.”

House lawmakers passed House Bill 2201 Wednesday. The bill would require Sound Transit to use a more driver-friendly car valuation schedule — the schedule passed in 2006. It is slightly better than the current schedule, which was passed in 1996.

The car valuation schedule would still be based on the MSRP of your vehicle and not its real value. Drivers would get a credit between the 1996 valuation and the 2006 valuation.

State representative Mark Harmsworth, who has been leading the charge to lower car-tab fees, believes the valuation should be based on Kelly Blue Book values. He tried again Wednesday to get that, but his amendments were shut down by the Democratic majority.

“I’m getting really tired of them focusing on how it’s going to hurt Sound Transit,” he said. “I’m more concerned about how it’s hurting, right now, the people paying for the tabs.”

Harmsworth still voted for the Democratic bill, saying some taxpayer relief is better than nothing. But the savings are not going to come as much relief to car owners, he says.

Now comes the bigger fight as these bills switch houses for approval. The Republican-controlled Senate’s bill on this requires a more realistic car valuation and more tax relief.

It’s doubtful that the House or Senate will sign off on what the other has proposed.

House passes 2017-19 transportation budget

Lawmakers in the state House approved the 2017-19 Transportation Budget on Wednesday night.

Though Rep. Ed Orcutt (R-Kalama) calls the budget “mostly good,” he too believes the budget doesn’t go far enough to address solutions to Sound Transit 3.

Of the 37 amendments to the $8.5 billion budget, five of six amendments related to Sound Transit that could have lowered car-tab fees were rejected, according to Orcutt.

“None of the amendments were adopted and some amendments were scoped, meaning the speaker refused to allow consideration and a vote,” according to Orcutt’s office.

“The failure to adopt the ST3 amendments is disappointing,” Orcutt said. “The majority party believes they offered a solution last night, but by their inaction on key components of ST3 they failed to solve a problem that is impacting over one million families in the Puget Sound area.”

Viaduct amendments fail

In addition to amendments to Sound Transit’s tax district, Orcutt introduced two amendments addressing cost overruns related to the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Both, according to the representative, were rejected along party lines.

One amendment would have removed the $15 million cost overrun for transit mitigation. Another would have tied the $60 million overrun appropriate to adoption of the proposed House Bill 2193, which requires the direct beneficiaries of the project, rather than all Washington taxpayers, to pay for cost overruns.

“The cost of this project has gone beyond the limit set in the authorizing legislation in 2009,” Orcutt said. “If Seattle is found responsible for these additional costs, the amendments I offered would have given the city, and the direct beneficiaries of the project, the tools they need to uphold their end of the bargain.”

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