Transportation: Trailing
other Northwest states in cost-effectiveness Volume 13, Number 25
June 5, 2003 Washington's transportation system ranks 25th in the nation for cost-effectiveness,
according to a February 2003 study written by Professor David Hartgen of
the University of North Carolina at Charlotte...
Transportation Solutions
Volume 12, Number 16
September 27, 2002 Before raising taxes to create more revenue for a state transportation
project wish list, legislators need to take a hard look at how tax dollars
are already spent...
Business Matters: Part
3: Unlocking Gridlock Volume 11, Number 27
October 9, 2001 Governor Locke aptly warned, "If we don’t fix our transportation problems
now, our businesses won’t grow. . .they’ll leave our state. If we don’t
have businesses, we won’t have jobs. It’s that simple."...
Money is all around us Volume 11, Number 21
May 15, 2001
Governor Gary Locke has proposed raising $17.2 billion in new state and regional revenue for transportation over the next ten years...
Promises Broken Volume 11, Number 20
May 3, 2001
Yesterday, Governor Gary Locke unveiled phases two and three of his plan to relieve traffic congestion...
It's high time we do what Governor Locke says Volume 11, Number 18
April 16, 2001
Good transportation policy is moving slower than our congested traffic. Why? Because there is no accountability...
Show us the accountability Volume 11, Number 16
April 6, 2001
The legislature is preparing to unveil a hefty new "revenue package" for transportation projects...
Unlocking Gridlock: Part V Volume 11, Number 12
March 28, 2001
Since the beginning of the legislative session, lawmakers have lamented that transportation is a mess – too much congestion and not enough money to fix the problem...
Unlocking Gridlock Part IV Volume 11, Number 11
March 21, 2001
Every year, Washington spends billions of dollars on transportation systems. Part of this money is wasted due to the high number of entities involved in transportation...
Unlocking Gridlock Part III Volume 11, Number 8
March 6, 2001
Before raising taxes to create more revenue for state transportation projects, legislators need to take a hard look at how tax dollars are already being spent...
Unlocking Gridlock Part II Volume 11, Number 6
February 28, 2001
Washington taxpayers deserve accountability for the money they provide to transportation agencies...
Unlocking Gridlock Part I Volume 11, Number 5
February 20, 2001
The Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation’s (BRCT) final recommendations for our transportation system are the hot topic in legislative transportation meetings this session...
Unlocking Gridlock: Introduction Volume 11, Number 4
February 5, 2001
It has only been a year since voters overwhelmingly approved Initiative 695 with a loud and clear "We’re sick of throwing money at a broken system."
Transportation - The Federal Role Volume 10, Number 15
February 25, 2000
The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) recently said if the HOV lanes were opened to all traffic, the feds might withhold highway funds or demand repayment of funds...
Transportation Solutions Volume 10, Number 14
February 23, 2000
Transportation solutions will be difficult to achieve until the legislature reviews the core functions of the agency and abolishes/revises the current legislative transportation committees...
Transportation Gridlock Volume 10, Number 13
February 22, 2000
From 1986 to 1997 only 70 lane miles were added to the state highway system but 21,619,000 more vehicle miles were traveled—an increase of 38% miles traveled in the last eleven years!!
Transportation: Is everything really on the table??? Volume 10, Number 12
February 21, 2000
On January 30 of this year, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Mary Margaret Haugen said that cuts in the transportation budget would be required due to the passage of I-695 and that the choices would be difficult...
Blue Ribbon Commission Sits on Transportation Savings Opportunities Volume 10, Number 11
February 17, 2000
Imagine our surprise at finding transportation savings proposals mounting to multi-millions of dollars on the website created by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation, a commission created in 1998 by the governor and the legislature. Many of the Commission’s proposals mirror specific findings and recommendations made in EFF publications in 1997-98...
Should the State Close Rest Areas? Volume 10, Number 10
February 17, 2000
Officials at the Department of Transportation (DOT) recently announced their intention to close 20 of the 41 rest areas throughout the state due to the impact of Initiative 695...
Whittling Down Washington State Ferries Volume 8, Number 5
March 4, 1998
In its 1996-97 fiscal year audit of the Department of Transportation, the State Auditor's Office included three findings critical of Washington State Ferries (WSF). Ferry Director Paul Green told the Seattle P-I that his agency has improved since the 1993-94 audit, which included nine WSF findings...
The Narrow Focus of the WSDOT Audit Volume 8, Number 4
February 20, 1998
The preliminary report of the highways/railways performance audit has been embraced by both critics and defenders of the state's Department of Transportation (WSDOT)...
Ferries, Free Riders and a
Free Dinner Volume 8, Number 3
February 18, 1998 We've given up (almost). After three months of trying to get specific
ferry ridership data from Washington State Ferries (WSF), we are convinced
that our search is fruitless...
At a March 23, 2005, House Appropriations hearing on a bill to gut the voter-approved I-601 spending limit, Rep. Jim McIntire (D) asked a supporter of I-601’s two-third supermajority requirement for the legislature to raise taxes the following question:
"Can you name a time when we [legislators] have actually not just set it [supermajority requirement] aside by majority vote? I mean, this is in many respects a procedural motion that has no bearing. It’s a statutory constraint that cannot constrain any legislature that chooses as a majority to set it aside . . . have we ever used a supermajority [to raise taxes]?"
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