Legislative shake-up may affect spending on roads

OLYMPIA — With the pending loss of two key lawmakers, the focus of state transportation policy and the fate of a multibillion-dollar roads package are far less clear than a few weeks ago.

Voters ousted Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, the powerful chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee who’s figured prominently in the writing of budgets and passage of two gas tax hikes in the last decade.

Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee, also lost his seat. He’s become a respected voice in decision-making the last three years as the ranking Republican on the House Transportation Committee.

As their caucuses prepare to name replacements, their colleagues and those involved in transportation matters are bracing for a bumpy start in the 2013 session until those successors get up to speed on the issues.

“There’s going to be a lot of missing history because of all their knowledge,” said Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee. “To have these leaders disappear right now makes me feel a little isolated.”

Duke Schaub, a lobbyist for the Associated General Contractors, called Haugen “a very strong leader” and praised Armstrong for helping find bipartisan support for raising revenue. Without them, he said, it will be a different tone in the chambers, though it’s too soon to know exactly how.

“I think this makes a tremendous amount of difference. It changes the dynamics pretty dramatically,” he said.

Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, said he thinks it will be for the better.

“The departure of Sen. Haugen provides the most opportunity for progress because she’s been the biggest barrier to new solutions for solving the transportation problems,” said Ericksen, a transportation committee member. “Honestly, she has blocked every innovation I’ve tried to bring forward.”

Haugen’s exit could prove costly for Snohomish and Island counties. She’s used her position as chairwoman to steer billions of dollars into the counties for repairing and widening highways, constructing ferries and funding transit services.

Rep. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, who beat Haugen in the Nov. 6 election, will arrive with no seniority and in the minority party. It’s not known if she will be appointed to the transportation committee, where she could influence spending of road dollars.

“It’s going to be a great loss for Snohomish County,” Schaub said. “Even as nice as person as I think Barbara Bailey is, she’s going to be a freshman.”

But it might turn out all right.

Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, is in a spirited battle with Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, for the chairmanship of the committee. Both serve on the panel, though Eide is vice-chair right now.

Hobbs is a centrist Democrat and founder of the Roadkill Caucus, which teamed with Republicans to pass government reform bills the last two legislative sessions. He said working across party lines is a critical attribute for the committee’s next leader because transportation is a bipartisan concern.

In the House, Republicans didn’t anticipate Armstrong’s defeat.

“How do we fill those shoes? That’s something we’ve begun working through and over the course of the next couple weeks will try to figure it out,” said Rep. Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, who is the caucus chairman and member of the transportation panel.

Meanwhile, the big transportation debate shaping up in 2013 will be on a package of measures to raise money for fixing roads, finishing major projects and easing congestion on the most heavily traveled corridors.

For months, business, labor and environmental organizations have been discussing elements of the package separately and together.

The evolution in leadership won’t derail efforts but could make success more elusive. Haugen and Armstrong have been central figures in the conversation and counted on to secure votes in their respective caucuses.

“It raises the difficulty level. It will be a larger challenge,” Hobbs said.

Schaub sounded pessimistic.

“We’ve worked all summer long with leadership of the transportation committees on moving forward with a possible transportation investment package. Now all of that is sort of up in limbo,” he said. “I think it is less likely.”

Clibborn said she’s optimistic. Months ago, she and Haugen agreed that the senator would work on the 2013-15 budget while she focused on the revenue package.

“There’s a lot of momentum. There’s a lot of groundwork that’s been laid,” she said. “With so many things on the plate of the new governor and with so many issues important to other lawmakers, there will be a lot of clamoring for attention to them. Still, I think we can do it.”

She said her intention is for lawmakers to pass the package rather than place it on the ballot.

“That’s my goal,” she said. “People want us to do the job. I will use everything I learned from Sen. Haugen and Rep. Armstrong to get it into a position where it can pass.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.