Right turns on red lights will continue for at least another year in Washington state, while anti-jaywalking laws could maybe become a thing of the past as lawmakers in Olympia settle into the second half of the 2023 legislative session.
The cutoff for policy bills to exit their committee of origin came and went Friday. In a session with traffic safety and equity as a priority, the deadline marked the end of the line for some transportation-related bills in the Washington Legislature, while others motor toward continued debate and deliberation.
Perhaps the most notable casualty is the proposal to restrict right turns on red lights in the state. Legalized in 1959, safety advocates have long pushed to limit those turns near schools, parks, senior centers and other areas with a significant number of potentially vulnerable pedestrians.
But amid concerns about implementation and congestion, House Bill 1582 never got a vote.
"What came out of that conversation is we need more data and better understanding of where the most problematic areas are," said Sen. Marko Liias, D-Lynnwood, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee.
Another bill that would have required more frequent license checks for older drivers is also likely dead this year. Lawmakers heard from older adults who felt they were being unfairly targeted, said Liias. The pushback showed a sharper evaluation was necessary to decide who should be allowed to continue driving and who shouldn't, said Liias.
Still, said Liias, much of his and his colleagues' traffic safety agenda is still alive. A bill, Senate Bill 5002, that would lower the blood alcohol limit for drivers from .08% to .05% passed out of committee with bipartisan support. Last week, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, wrote to lawmakers encouraging them to pass the proposal into law.
Another proposal, House Bill 5583, to mandate more driver's education for young people, while also offering vouchers for those who couldn't afford a class, is also still moving through the legislative process. And the state could soon clear the way for more camera enforcement in work zones.
House Bill 1638, a bill to offer signing bonuses to state troopers, who provide traffic enforcement, not only passed out of committee but was among the first to clear the House floor on Monday.
Several more partisan and controversial bills also sneaked in just before last week's deadline. One is the decriminalization of jaywalking in Washington, which passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee. People who cross outside of an intersection or crosswalk are currently at risk of receiving a criminal citation. The proposal was slimmed to only include areas where the speed limit is 45 mph or less, but advocates nevertheless cheered its progress.
"We have a law that's used for something akin to stop and frisk and punishes people for living in areas without safe infrastructure," said Hester Serebrin, policy director for the Transportation Choices Coalition.
Chair of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, said the jaywalking bill still faced a long path ahead due to the possible "mixed messages" of legalizing jaywalking while trying to reduce traffic deaths.
Another bill to deprioritize traffic stops of low-level offenses cleared the House Transportation Committee. Backed by the ACLU of Washington, its goal is to reduce the number of interactions between drivers and law enforcement, especially in the wake of Tyre Nichols' killing in January by Memphis, Tennessee, police.
Ranking member of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, said he's not pleased with that bill's advancement, as he views those stops as useful. "A lot of times, these are the stops that lead to bigger things," he said.
Bills deemed essential to the state budget are not subject to the same cutoffs as pure policy proposals. For that reason, lawmakers are likely to continue conversations about a possible per-mile tax on road users — which could supplement or replace the dwindling gas tax.
A bill under consideration, House Bill 1832, would open the new charge to voluntary participants in 2025, in exchange for waiving fees on electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. Mandatory participation would not happen until at least 2030.
Lawmakers of both parties agree something should be done about declining gas tax dollars. But while the Washington State Transportation Commission is pushing lawmakers to begin a slow rollout of the much-discussed road usage charge this year, Liias said his priority is buy-in from both sides of the aisle.
"We do need to make sure that this is going to be a durable sustainable solution," he said.
One hang-up is how the money should be spent. Barkis said he wants it restricted to highway and road spending, as currently prescribed for the gas tax under the 18th amendment of Washington's Constitution. Advocates for transit, bicycles and pedestrians want the spending to include priorities beyond roads for cars.
As policy legislation moves through both chambers, lawmakers on both sides are also keeping a key eye on what's included in the budget. The final day of the session is April 23.
