State lawmakers revealed Monday’s proposal to approve an additional $5 billion in special bonds for the salmon recovery project arising from the state’s long-term tribal fishing rights lawsuit.
If approved, the bond will be supported by existing taxes on utilities currently funding local public works projects.
The expected 13-year salmon recovery bond will pay to replace the Washington Department of Transportation’s dark vert blocking spawning salmon, even in a habitat recovery effort under a 2013 federal court injunction.
Lawmakers hope that dedicated revenues signal tribal countries in litigation and tribal countries in litigation that they are working on work as both approach mediation. In early March, a federal judge approved a joint request for mediation in the case, but some tribes were reluctant to be involved.
“I think it’s really important to always prioritize that we are in a legal situation where we are owed to pay,” said Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, the bill’s lead sponsor and vice-chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “We respect and commit to knowing the fact that we have done harm to fish passages as a state government.”
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Treaty Fisheries Rights Case deals with culverts. It is usually a metal or concrete pipe that carries a stream under a state highway. A group of 21 tribes sued the state in 2001, forcing the dark verts to block the movement of salmon and steelhead trout due to its lack of design or maintenance.
Trudeau said the new fund is intended to pay for recovery projects that both parties agree to during mediation, as well as specific dark verts on the 2013 list. A Seattle Times survey last March showed that many other barriers in the creek meant that many of the state’s dark vert alternatives were essentially useless without further investment. Some tribal leaders want the ability to consider more effective projects than darken alternatives to the state list.
On Monday afternoon, the Senate announced its capital budget. This showed how funds would be shuffled for payments for the fish passage project.
Typically, Congress uses the transportation budget to pay for the dark vert alternative to WSDOT. Previously, they allocated nearly $4 billion to meet WSDOT’s obligation to fix dark verts under the injunction, but the transportation budget has become ill due to reduced gas taxes and other issues.
Monday’s proposal removes funds from the transport budget and essentially creates a bank account through the capital budget. The plan depends SB 5804Trudeau’s bill, which, among other local infrastructure projects, diverts some of the utility tax currently used to pay for sewer and drinking water improvements, and instead pays back salmon collection debt obligations.
Public Works Support Accounts provide low interest loans to local governments. With the Biennium proposal losing nearly $200 million, the Senate capital budget would fill the public works accounts through general obligation debt.
However, city government representatives are concerned that this will require reliable revenue and will fund public works that will depend on future legislative priorities.
“The Washington Urban Association lobbyist, representing cities and towns,” said Karl Schroeder, “The Washington Urban Association is a great example of the city and town.
Schroeder is also concerned that the Senate capital budget will bypass billions more to decoup the Calvert project to the state, but leaves behind a barrier to travel for other salmon in the same river. A Times study found that all barrier WSDOT corrections meant that nine other people upstream and two downstream block fish movements partially or completely.
For years, local government advocates have asked states to fund more local fish passing projects, including city and county-owned dark vert changes, to supplement the multi-billion dollar work WSDOT has accomplished.
W. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown Scrulam tribe, said Monday that the Senate budget proposal has not yet been vetted by the tribes, and that they would like to see alternatives coming from the homes as well. The House Capital Budget was also announced Monday, failing to address the dark vert project needed for a federal court injunction.
As chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee, Rep. Steve Tharinger of D-Port Townsend, said he is considering an alternative financing approach to convert liability into capital budgets. But the Senate bond plan made him worried that the state might not be able to spend it when it needed it.
The two rooms must adjust for budget differences and the governor may reject all or part of the budget. Gov. Bob Ferguson will consider a Senate capital budget proposal after his release, his spokesperson said last week.
“We look forward to participating in mediation with our tribal partners and identifying the best path forward,” said Ferguson spokesman Brionna Aho.
The state’s construction schedules don’t just rely on fundraising. Also, tribal consent is required. As it stands, WSDOT says it won’t meet the 2030 deadline for the injunction, even if it’s on the hands of billions today, to restore some of the salmon habitat above the state’s dark vert.
Staff writer Lynda V. Mapes contributed to this report.
