Dear Bicycle Club Members,

Thank you for your participation in our Bicycle Club Conference on Sunday, January 22nd.  After we met, I talked with Michael Temple about more frequent updates, and planning for the longer session in 2007.  He suggested we meet again in April to begin planning for next year.  The statewide WSDOT Bike/Ped Advisory Committee meets in Spokane on April 8th, so I'm throwing that out as an idea.  Send your thoughts on that, and we'll ask Eileen to lead us on a bike ride.

Please advise your club members as follows:

Senator Mary Margaret Haugen, Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee introduced SB 6339 a bill relating to allocating federal transportation enhancement funds.  The bill was heard in committee on Monday, January 23rd. 

In a nutshell, SB 6339 would require the state Transportation Enhancement Committee (on which the Bicycle Alliance serves) and the Regional Transportation Planning Organizations (RTPOs) "to ensure, to the great extent practicable, that funding for each transportation enhancement activity is allocated such that the allocation meets or exceeds the national average of allocations made for each of the twelve activities."

For example, if 7% of TE funds nationally is spend on the removal of outdoor advertising, then the RTPOs would need to allocate at least 7% of their funds to this category.  In essence, you are losing the ability to fund TE projects based on local needs and priorities.

At this point we are working this bill quietly and asking club members to call or email their Senator with a simple message: 
"I do not support SB 6339; Projects are currently selected at the local level based on local needs.  Fixed percentages don't address local priorities." Washington doesn't want to fund projects based on national averages!

This bill is going to most likely pass out of committee soon so it's important to let your Senator know that your don't support it.  We'll keep you posted about the House of Representatives where Representative Ed Murray chairs the Transportation Committee and favors projects chosen for local priorities.

The bill digest can be viewed at.
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Pdf/Digests/Senate/6339.DIG.pdf

Barbara Culp
Executive Director
Bicycle Alliance of Washington
PO Box 2904
Seattle, WA 98111
206/224-9252
206/384-9629 (cell)

-- Jim Lazar, Consulting Economist
1063 Capitol Way S. #202
Olympia, WA 98501
Voice: 360-786-1822
Fax: 253-679-7405
Direct email: jim@...
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