An Email I Received Regarding Tunnel Spending
Written by Ed Plute on March 17 2010
The bond statement (at page 1) states very broadly that the funds are being raised for projects (unspecified in the bond) authorized by several state statutes. One of the referenced statutes is RCW 47.10.861. That is the 2003 “nickel” gas tax legislation. According to that RCW, the proceeds can be used for any project identified in the 2003 transportation budget. I didn’t pull the 2003 transportation budget itself, but I did pull the WDOT webpage that lists the projects in that document. SR 99 is on that (long) list. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/A5AA153E-8928-412C-809E-EBE24DE88662/0/HighwayNickelList.pdf.
The bond statement also references the 2005 funding package (RCW 47.10.873). Again, that legislation says the bond funds can be used for any project on the list in the 2005 transportation budget. Again, the viaduct replacement is on that list... http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1467D8A9-AD9B-48B5-A26D-36110E911F3B/0/ProjectsbyCounty.pdf. This WSDOT webpage describes the project as specifically a cut and cover tunnel. But when you go back to the actual legislation (2005 session law ch. 313, section 305; http://www.leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/documents/sessionlaw/2005pam2.pdf), the legislature did not limit the funds to a cut and cover tunnel but rather referenced projects in the LEAP Transportation 2005-6 document and that document (http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/Budget/Detail/2005/st0507LEAPDocTranspo200560424.pdf) simply refers to “Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement.”
The 2005 legislation also provides that funds in the pot are fungible (within limits). It provides:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 603. (1) The transportation commission may
authorize a transfer of spending allocation within the appropriation provided and
between projects funded with transportation 2003 account (nickel account)
appropriations or the transportation partnership account appropriations to
manage project spending and efficiently deliver all projects in the respective
program under the following conditions and limitations:
(a) Transfers from a project may be made if the funds allocated to the
project are in excess of the amount needed to complete the project;
(b) Transfers from a project may be made if the project is experiencing
unavoidable expenditure delays;
(c) Transfers from a project may not be made as a result of the reduction of
the scope of a project, nor shall a transfer be made to support increases in the
scope of a project;
(d) Each transfer between projects may only occur if the commission finds
that any resulting change will not hinder the completion of the projects approved
by the legislature; and
(e) Transfers may not occur to projects not identified on the applicable
project list.
(2) A report of the transfers shall be submitted on October 1st of each fiscal
year to the senate and house of representatives transportation committees.