The GOP Wants to Relitigate ST3, Voters Be Damned
Last fall, 556,252 people voted against the Sound Transit 3 measure. But to their displeasure, no doubt, nearly 100,000 more people voted for it.
The vote should have been a decisive end to the debate. Unfortunately, state Republicans are intent on relitigating the matter, and have spent considerable time this legislative session proposing bills that, to various extents, will hamstring the regional transit agency. Some of the measures have been outright hostile to Sound Transit’s very existence. For example, one measure proposed by Senators Dino Rossi and Steve O’Ban would allow municipalities to unilaterally opt their residents out of paying Sound Transit taxes, which would all but ensure a collapse of the agency’s taxing authority.
That bill was never taken seriously, nor should it have been. But it’s an important waypoint to keep in mind when considering other efforts being put forth by the same senators in Olympia. That’s because while these remaining bills may have more modest aims and (arguably) more reasonable rationales, they are at their roots a part of the same anti-ST3 agenda that would unnecessarily put into peril a mass transit system that our region badly needs—and strongly supports.
Primary among these is a bill that would change how Sound Transit calculates car tabs. Seizing on the fact that Sound Transit is using an outdated car assessment method that typically inflates the value of newer vehicles, Republicans have brought forward a bill that would require Sound Transit to use the Kelley Blue Book value of cars instead. Republican leaders clearly think they have a winning issue with the car tabs. The Leadership Institute, an alliance of business interests and GOP lawmakers, has launched an astroturf-y online campaign called “Lower My Car Tabs” to drum up support for the bill, and Sound Transit has been called everything from greedy to criminal for the way it calculates vehicle values.
Read more: http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/the-gop-wants-to-relitigate-st3-voters-be-damned/