Washington Business Fall 2018 | Legislative Review & Vote Record | Page 35

issue area reports | infrastructure
Infrastructure
Michael Ennis: Transportation, Infrastructure, Aviation, Regulatory
Reform, Water Resources, Telecom, Rural Jobs, Land Use
Lawmakers adjourned the 60-day legislative session on time. While
transportation leaders did adopt a supplemental budget, this session
can be best summed up by what did not pass. Lawmakers left the
express toll lanes on Interstate 405 alone, failed to provide car tab
relief from the ST3 program, punted on regulating transportation
network companies, and let the sales tax exemption on the
purchase of electric vehicles expire. And in a surprise move, Rep.
Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, announced on the floor that she
will retire this year. Clibborn has served as chair of the House
Transportation Committee and was instrumental in passing the
Connecting Washington package in 2015.
Following AWB’s Rural Job’s Summits last year, AWB members also
identified telecom and broadband infrastructure as top issues for
the business community. Just in the previous five years alone, our
telecom businesses have invested nearly $9.5 billion in Washington
state, and they employ about 22,000 Washingtonians, all with high
tech, family-wage jobs. Our citizens have never been as connected
to the world as they are today thanks to private enterprise. We still
have work to do, as an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 people,
mostly in the rural areas, remain unserved.
infrastructure/
transportation
ESSB 6106
supplemental
transportation budget
Passed/AWB Supported
AW B supported Eng rossed Substitute
Senate Bill 6106, sponsored by Sen. Steve
Hobbs, D -La ke Stevens, which made
supplemental appropriations to the biennial
transportation budget. The bill adds about
$800 million in new spending from the
enacted 2017-19 biennial budget. Among
Bill considered as part of
AWB’s voting record
Mike Ennis is AWB’s government affairs director for
transportation, air quality, land use and water resources.
other provisions, lawmakers chose to fund
a few new projects, accelerate a handful of
Connecting Washington projects, develop
a Request For Proposals to convert three
fer r y vessels to hybr id elec t r ic, a nd
f u nded a n autonomous veh icle work
group. Transportation leaders also funded
several new studies, including: the state of
city transportation funding, public transit
capital needs, regulation of transportation
network companies, regulation of taxi and
for hire services, the business case analysis
of high-speed rail between Vancouver, B.C.,
and Portland, and an assessment of setting
medical standards for commercial driver’s
Favorable outcome for
Washington businesses
license holders. The budget also contained
funding for corridor studies, including: SR
518, I-5 between exits 116 and 99, SR 162
interchange, and SR 410. This legislation
passed the Senate 47-1 and the House by a
vote of 96-1.
SHB 2970
autonomous vehicle work
group
Passed/AWB Supported
AWB supported Substitute House Bill 2970,
sponsored by Rep. Zack Hudgins, D-Tuk-
wila, which establishes an autonomous
Missed Opportunities
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