“I want to thank Senate negotiators for their hard work and leadership on transportation. I've been advocating for a transportation package since my first day in office and I welcome this development.
“Overall, I believe the Senate has put forward a strong start. I appreciate that it funds safety and maintenance, completes projects, authorizes light rail, and invests in multimodal like transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects.
“We need to give the proposal a full analysis. At first glance, I do have some questions, particularly about some of the conditions attached to the bill. We need to look carefully at the total amount of sales tax proposed to be moved from the operating budget, changes to worker wages, and the connection to a clean fuel standard. Under the Senate plan, if Washington adopts a low carbon fuel standard to reduce emissions, we lose transit funding.
“As I’ve been saying, we must make progress on funding transportation and reducing carbon emissions this session. I look forward to working with both Democrats and Republicans on those priorities. We need to see how much support the bill has in the Senate, and then we can all work on the next phase of negotiations. I remain optimistic that we can work together and get a package across the finish line this session.”