{"id":30948,"date":"2021-04-23T16:10:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.redmond-reporter.com\/home\/democrats-weigh-marriage-of-cap-and-trade-with-gas-tax-hike\/"},"modified":"2021-04-23T16:10:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T23:10:00","slug":"democrats-weigh-marriage-of-cap-and-trade-with-gas-tax-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redmond-reporter.com\/northwest\/democrats-weigh-marriage-of-cap-and-trade-with-gas-tax-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats weigh marriage of cap-and-trade with gas tax hike"},"content":{"rendered":"
Washington state lawmakers won’t be passing a massive transportation package this legislative session. <\/p>\n
But they are closing in on approving a major carbon emission reduction program — though it could be contingent on boosting the gas tax to pay for future highway improvements.<\/p>\n
A retooled cap-and-trade proposal emerged in the House early April 23 that ties the start of the long-sought program with enactment of a nickel increase in the gas tax.<\/p>\n
This linkage is one of several changes contained in a sweeping amendment<\/a> to Senate Bill <\/a>5126<\/a>, also known as the Climate Commitment Act, which aims to cap emissions from the state’s largest polluters. As designed, it would create a market in which allowances for emissions are auctioned and revenue is used in a range of ways, including to reduce the number of vehicles on roads and to offset the negative impacts of pollution on communities. It is estimated the program will generate $4 billion in the next 10 years.<\/p>\n The proposed amendment, which the House was expected to consider sometime Friday, no longer contains a provision restricting use of some of the revenue if the state fails to approve a low carbon fuel standard by 2027. It adds details on who would be subject to the rules and how to deal with those who would be initially exempt.<\/p>\n Restoring the link between cap-and-trade and transportation revenue is the result of ongoing negotiations among House and Senate Democrats, and Gov. Jay Inslee, over how best to address climate change and the state’s pressing infrastructure needs.<\/p>\n “I think this is a positive step,” said Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “It shows transportation is a critical part of dealing with climate change and a transportation package has to go hand-in-hand with carbon pricing.”<\/p>\n Hobbs is among a small group of Democrats unwilling to back the cap-and-trade bill without a firm pledge for action to come up with billions of dollars to maintain the existing statewide transportation system.<\/p>\n He’s spent the session pushing his 16-year, $17.8 billion <\/a>undertaking<\/a> known as Forward Washington, which counts on $5.2 billion of cap-and-invest <\/a>revenue<\/a>. Hence the interest in the linkage.<\/p>\n It contained money to rebuild the U.S. 2 trestle in Snohomish County, pay Washington’s share of a new I-5 bridge across the Columbia River, build new state ferries and bolster public transit.<\/p>\n But on Friday, Hobbs acknowledged the package is dead this session— a pronouncement made earlier this week by several legislative leaders.<\/p>\n Conversations will continue, he said, and should be fruitful if the linkage is retained. He’s still hoping for success “sometime this year” or next session.<\/p>\n Inslee, who requested the cap-and-trade bill, has said he wants a transportation package but opposes linking it with the emission reduction program in the same legislation.<\/p>\n “We are reviewing the developments,” said Tara Lee, Inslee’s executive director for communications. “As with everything in the last few days prior to the end of the legislative session, we need to wait and see what the final outcome will be.”<\/p>\n Environmentalists think this could be the path to success on cap-and-trade after years of setbacks in the Legislature and on the ballot.<\/p>\n “We are confident that the changes to the Climate Commitment Act will ensure its likely implementation in the urgent time frame that is needed,” said Clifford Traisman, lobbyist for the Washington Conservation Voters and Washington Environmental Council.<\/p>\n “We will continuously work for passage of a transportation package, as it is urgently needed to fund transit, fund ways to reduce carbon emissions, and to serve people,” he said. “It is with our hope that the next phase of the transportation revenue debate will more robustly involve the public in order to build the needed momentum for a package”<\/p>\n