Today, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and Clean Fuels Standard passed by the Washington State Legislature, but vetoed provisions delaying implementation of either law until passage of a statewide transportation package. Inslee also inked a bill limiting use of certain plastic products with Seattle Aquarium as the backdrop and Senator Rebecca Saldaña’s HEAL Act at a signing ceremony held at the Duwamish Longhouse before heading to Shoreline Community College to sign the CCA.
“[T]here never was a grand bargain, as far as the Governor’s role in the process is concerned,” the Governor’s Office said in a statement released Monday. “Even without a veto, a bargain that potentially delays urgent action on climate change and still not guarantees a transportation package is no bargain at all.”
Climate journalist David Roberts has called the cap-and-trade and industrial regulatory system that the CCA sets up the most comprehensive and effective carbon pricing system in the United States. With the veto, CCA and Clean Fuels Standard implementation begins immediately rather than waiting on some future compromise transportation package.
We at The Urbanist have been highly critical of tying a marquee climate bill to a transportation package still mostly focused on highway building in its latest drafts. Our editorial board even suggested a “no new highways” pledge was in order to shake state legislators out of their highway expanding habits, which have delayed climate action and locked in tons of greenhouse gas emissions. My legislative roundup highlighted adding the transportation package poison pill to key climate bills as one of the more regrettable and sinister maneuvers of the session. Governor Inslee’s line-item veto seems to nullify this critique in the stroke of a pen.
Still, some advocates argued the Governor had made the wrong move. Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC) favored the linkage as an incentive to a pass the package and issued a statement lamenting the veto.
“Given Washington’s clear and pressing need for comprehensive transportation revenue, I’m surprised Governor Inslee would remove a deadline for action. Transportation Choices Coalition came into session with passage of a transportation package as our top priority and we will continue to push for one regardless of this veto,” said Alex Hudson, TCC Executive Director.
TCC remained optimistic that the transportation package would end up focusing on safety and maintenance in its final version, despite warning signs so far. Senate Transportation Chair Steve Hobbs has continued to emphasize highway expansion, especially with regard to a $2 billion Highway 2 trestle in his district and the $5 billion reanimated corpse of the Columbia River Crossing I-5 expansion and bridge replacement project in Clark County. While claiming to be about safer bridges, both projects manage to add a lot of lane miles and beefed up interchanges. Those two entrees were joined by a smorgasbord of highway widening projects across the state adding up to billions more.
