State of
Washington
House Of
Representatives

 

February 20, 2020

Senator Hobbs and Representative Fey:

We the undersigned write to thank you for your work in addressing our state?s transportation revenue
shortfall. Even before the impacts of Initiative 976, we faced billions of dollars of needs to address fish
passage barriers, fund preservation and maintenance of our roads, construct new ferries, grow
multimodal transportation options, and build projects of statewide significance such as the Columbia
River Crossing and the US 2 trestle. Initiative 976 only made these challenges harder.

We are committed to working with you to achieve a state transportation revenue package in 2021 to
address these needs. We welcome the consideration of multiple options, including an increase in the
motor vehicle fuel tax, a road usage charge, a carbon tax on transportation fuels, systemwide tolling,
and an economywide cap-and-invest program.

We also are committed to making significant progress on reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions
across our economy, but particularly in the transportation fuel sector, which is by far the largest source
of greenhouse gas emissions in Washington and the only major sector in which this Legislature has not
enacted meaningful policies.

We see passage of a clean fuel standard as a precondition to the passage of a transportation revenue
package. As urgent as our transportation infrastructure needs are, the climate crisis is also urgent. We
owe it to current and future generations of Washingtonians to begin on a trajectory to decarbonize the
transportation sector before it is too late.

We believe passage of both a clean fuel standard and a transportation revenue package in the same
legislative session would bring considerable difficulty and risk. However, invite you to consider adding
the attached language to EZSHB 1110 that would make the enforcement of a clean fuel standard
contingent upon the passage of a transportation revenue package that raises no less than $2 billion per

biennium for the aforementioned unmet transportation 

Thank you for your dedication to our state?s prosperity and our futu/re\/U? 

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