[Transit] SB 5528 passes House, on to Governor

[Wes Mills]

SB 5528, allowing for "enhanced service zones" in RTAs (of which Sound Transit is the only one) passed the House late last night.  It passed by two votes, with a handful of Democrats from inside the Sound Transit district voting no.

As it has already passed the Senate, it's on to the Governor who will almost certainly sign it.

What does this mean for us?  Two things I can think of: If this is passed in one sub-area, that might take pressure off of costs in another sub-area so available funding can go up.  Also, sub-areas can "loan" money between each other, thus North King--which covers Seattle--could provide a mechanism for airport transit, for example.  Related to Seattle specifically, this might push off talk of raising the Seattle-specific transportation benefit district tax since that would mean two transit tax votes either on the same ballot or in quick succession, and I don't know if that's politically feasible.

(I am also not a political strategist so maybe the latter is feasible?  Seattle does love voting for transit, after all.)

Here's a map of the sub-areas in the ST district on page 6, notice how the airport is in a different one than Seattle.  (I tried to attach it but the list software doesn't like bigger attachments :D)

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5528&Year=2021&Initiative=false