An alliance of businesses, labor unions, cities, counties and political leaders from around the state on Tuesday urged the governor and lawmakers to pass a transportation package
In a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee and the leaders of the House and Senate, members of the Keep Washington Rolling coalition expressed disappointment that negotiations on the $15 billion, 16-year package had been put on hold until a deal is reached on a new operating budget.
“We understand the challenges surrounding the operating budget,” they wrote. “We do not believe passage of a transportation package and passage of an operating budget are mutually exclusive. This job is too important to be left undone, and failure should not be an option.”
There are nearly 200 signers on the letter including the mayors of Everett and Edmonds, four Snohomish County Council members and the county executive, and several cities in the county.
Here’s the letter:
We are writing in a united, bi-partisan spirit as leaders, representatives, and elected officials from business and labor, local government and contractors, trades and transit agencies, engineering companies and environmental organizations, and as members of coalitions that have worked with and talked to all of you about the critical need to pass a balanced transportation revenue and reform package this session.
We are writing to remind you of the vital importance of a transportation package and the economic activity, jobs, quality of life and environmental enhancements, mobility, safety, transit, multimodal and congestion relief benefits that go with it. We are extremely disappointed to hear negotiations have been put on hold just as a historic $15 billion, 16-year package of investments was on the cusp of becoming a reality. To us, it would be disappointing and damaging to our economy not to enact a package, and we urge you to finish the job.
It has been more than a decade since the State of Washington adopted a comprehensive statewide transportation package – it is well past time we do so. We can think of no better jobs package to continue our state’s recovery from the Great Recession. A transportation package will improve the movement of freight and goods, bring good family-wage jobs to our contractors and our building trades, and bring our communities the transportation safety, capacity and mobility improvements that are long overdue.
We understand the challenges surrounding the operating budget. We do not believe passage of a transportation package and passage of an operating budget are mutually exclusive. Adoption of a transportation package should be seen as a win for everyone – the Governor, both chambers, both parties, and most of all the economy and the citizens you serve.
Each of you have the chance to do something that is truly historic for our state this session by finishing the projects that have been on the drawing board for decades, by creating thousands of jobs, by spurring our economy, and by upgrading our transportation infrastructure. This job is too important to be left undone, and failure should not be an option. Please stay at it and pass a transportation investment package.
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