|
2009 Leglislative Priorities
Updated April 2, 2009
Part way into the Cascade Bicycle Club’s first session with a full-time presence in Olympia, we’re confronted with a staggering budget deficit of more than $9 billion. We work every day in Olympia to promote comprehensive changes to state policies that are needed to make bicycling mainstream, even though resources are limited.
We are preparing for votes in the House and Senate for the active legislation detailed below. Several deadlines have already passed, and bills that did not make the agenda and pass either the House or Senate will not move forward this year. Most bills succumb to this fate, rather than being voted down. For legislation that “died” on the calendar, we are identifying “vehicle” bills that can be amended to include our language.
The Federal Safe Routes to School program provides funding to enable and encourage primary and secondary school children to walk and bicycle to school. Applications for funds in Washington State have far outstripped available resources (only 10% of applicants receive funding), so Cascade has worked with a coalition of public health and transportation advocates to request dedicated and ongoing state support for Safe Routes to Schools construction projects.
In addition to bringing this popular program into state code, we provide additional guidelines to the funding process, including the need to direct some funding to disadvantaged schools. Finally, we believe the program must be evaluated, both to protect taxpayers and to further our understanding of how to effectively create a safe environment for walking and bicycling to school.
Thanks in part to hundreds of Cascade members who urged their legislators to vote yes, the House approved Safe Routes by an 83-13 vote. The bill is scheduled for a hearing on Mar. 31, and must be passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee by April 17 to stay alive.
Tell your Senator to support HB 1793 by clicking here
This legislation makes the state’s “Safe Passing Law” more specific by requiring motorists pass bicyclists and pedestrians by at least three feet. Rep. Jamie Pedersen (D-43) has been working the bill diligently. Under his leadership, it passed out of the House – though by a slim majority.
The Senate will be a bigger challenge. We’ve been informed that it will be heard in Senate Transportation Committee on April 1. Perhaps foolishly, the Committee Chair, Sen. Haugen, doesn’t like the bill.
Tell your Senator to support HB 1491 by clicking here
Many people who bicycle commute also own cars – but drive them much less than the average. While insurers take self-reported mileage into account when setting rates, it is one of the lesser factors.
This bill would allow insurers to develop and sell usage-based insurance. Because this would allow pay-as-you-drive programs, it would offer the opportunity for people who use their vehicles less to pay lower fees – another selling point for bicycling.
SB 5708 passed out of the State Senate on a 32-15 vote.
Click here to encourage your representatives in the House to vote YES on “Pay as You Drive”
Loop metal detectors are the primary triggering devices for most of the state’s actuated traffic signals. Unfortunately, a significant number are not properly calibrated to detect bicycles (or motorcycles). State law allows road users to proceed, after yielding, when they encounter a "defective or missing traffic control device." While this would appear to apply to signals that do not function for bicycles, it leaves a significant gray area.
The state of California has adopted a uniform standard to which signals must be calibrated. This will ensure that all legal roadway users are afforded the same accommodation.
We had language in HB 1403 that addressed our needs. It “died” on the House calendar despite broad bipartisan support, simply by not being high enough on the agenda. Its language is being revived and has been offered as an amendment to SB 5482, a bill governing two-wheeled and three-wheeled vehicles.
Use our online tool - pass signals for safety
This bill requires state spending on capital construction (wastewater treatment, buildings, and everything else except roads and schools) to jive with state climate and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) reduction goals. This will reshape the map of how projects are funded by the state, reducing long-term costs for building infrastructure and creating more amenities within bicycling distance. It was heard in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on Monday, March 23, and must be passed out of that committee by April 17.
Ask your senator to support this bill here.
Transit Oriented Communities (HB 1490, SB 5687 - Died on House and Senate calendars)
A major focus of Cascade and more than 20 partner organizations was Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) legislation. Developers, realtors and other supporters of sprawl that does not accommodate bicyclists worked against it, and neither bill was brought for a vote before the cutoff deadline.
Cascade and allies, such as Transportation Choices Coalition and Futurewise, have identified opportunities to salvage parts of the TOC through amendments to other bills. Some of the most important language from 1490 would have required that Regional Transportation Planning Organizations meet the state’s Vehicle Miles Traveled reduction goals in the plans they produce – a boon to pedestrians and bicyclists. Some of that language may be amended onto SB 5735, and we are working with the Department of Ecology and the Governor’s office to recover more bike-friendly elements of the bill.
HB 2252 is being considered as a vehicle for low-income housing provisions from the TOC bill.
|
