Two Senate bills that address ongoing issues with Sound Transit were heard Tuesday in the Senate Transportation Committee. One of the bills would affect a strongly debated topic: the cost of car tabs.
Senate Bill 5042 would change the vehicle valuation method used to determine car-tab fees.
Instead of using the manufacturer's suggested retail price, Washington state would use the Kelley Blue Book value.
"People who will never benefit from the light-rail project are having to pay car-tab fees three to five times higher than they paid before ST3," said Washington state Senator Steve O'Ban, R-University Place, the primary sponsor of the bills. "Some are facing the choice of paying rent or licensing their car. Those fees should be based on a value that is more realistic than MSRP."
Voters approved a $30 cap in 1999 and 2002. The ST3 measure approved by voters in 2016 raised the annual fees to pay for public transportation projects. That increase resulted in sticker shock for many drivers, who saw their fees double or triple.
SB 5042 would lower car-tab fees by up to 55 percent.
The second bill up for discussion, Senate Bill 5220, proposes the Sound Transit board be elected instead of appointed by the King County executive.
A separate effort to adjust car tab prices is heading to Washington voters in November.
Initiative 976 would cap car-tab fees at $30 a year. If approved, the initiative would take a nearly $7 billion chunk out of Sound Transit's anticipated revenue.
The initiative by Tim Eyman would drive a "significant amount of tax revenue" away from projects and services, a statement from the agency reads. That includes building out the 116-mile light rail system that will eventually stretch from Tacoma to Everett and east to Redmond, Kirkland, and Issaquah. It would also impact plans for more rapid transit bus service, and expansion of the Sounder service.
Eyman called his initiative effort “an explosion of citizen participation.”
“It is by far of all the initiatives I’ve done the one that moves people the most, because across the economic spectrum people really feel the impact, because they have to write that check each time,” Eyman said.