[UPDATE: The bill is dead.  Lt. Governor Brad Owen ruled that the Liias amendment was out of scope of the bill.  ]

Late last night, the House voted to insist Liias’ amendment to provide Pierce and Snohomish with the tools they need to keep transit from falling off a cliff. This is great news for us, but there is one more step!

Now it’s up to the Senate – we need real pressure on your Senators to make this happen, and we’re very close. The last thing we want is to have this fight again next year when we’re trying to fight for a good state capital budget.

There’s a simple tool to find your legislators here. Please urge your Senator to concur with SB 6774! This is it for the session, and it’s the one fight we can actually win. Please help our friends to the north and south, and please comment once you’ve done so!

34 Replies to “Seal The Deal: Call Your Senators To Save PT and CT!”

  1. I just sent an email to my Senator, Adam Kline. I would be very surprised if he wasn’t supporting this anyway, but I let him know that even transit I don’t use is important to me. And Ben, thanks for giving us the tools we need to try to affect political decisions regarding transit!

  2. Just left a message with Sen Kline! I heard the vote is likely to happen sometime this morning, so call asap.

  3. I contacted Senator Jim Kastama, urging him to maintain the PT service and hopeful that the future Ezra BRT program continues onward. Hopefully our message will come through to them!

  4. I called my Senator, Debbie Regala, asking her to support emergency funding for Pierce Transit. My source in Olympia tells me Sens. Chris Marr and Mary Margaret Haugen are doing everything they can to kill the emergency funding provision.

    1. Use the phone, they don’t get email quickly enough and it doesn’t make the phone ring.

      1. They get e-mail as quickly as anyone else does, Ben. And I can almost guarantee you the see it faster than they will hear from their legislative assistant that folks have called on the issue. If their computer is open on the floor, they are in their e-mail!

        BUT, the legislative assistants, or session aide’s or interns in each senator’s office is likely keeping a tally of who writes/calls on an issue and the yea/nay position.

  7. I left a message on the phone for my senator, Rosemary McAuliffe of Bothell. I hope she supports it. Her district is in south Snohomish County.

  8. The bill came up about the same time this post went up and was scoped by one of the Senators. A ruling from Brad Owen should be issued shortly.

    1. And if that scoping says we move forward with the amendment, we need these calls.

  12. I’m in 32nd (Sen. Darlene Fairley), called her office in support.

    She’s N King and a little bit of S Snohomish…anyone know how supportive she normally is?

    1. That’s the interesting thing. A couple of Dems could probably use Republican replacement, because then we’d be able to fight for a good Dem the next time around.

  15. With falling real estate prices, and a lack of any real centralized corridors, it is a hard sell. I’d say transit in the exurbs should take a breather in place of park and rides to the mainline corridors now being built.

    You can’t every battle …

    1. John, please don’t change names like this.

      With real estate prices stable, and real, centralized corridors either already implemented or on their way, it makes no sense to cut transit service. This loses us Swift Sunday service, for instance (a clearly centralized corridor), as well as feeder service to Sounder (another centralized corridor).

      It sounds like you’re just making up new reasons to fit your anti-transit bias.

  16. Called Rodney Tom’s office, 48th district. Got vmail. Left message supporting SB 6774. Is vmail better than email?

    1. I emailed also. His email web-site lets you enter the bill number and position so he can easily get an automated tally

    2. I think email actually is better – it’s been a good point made recently that they can get email on their laptops on the floor.

    1. Thanks for pointing out the obvious Norman, but, you know, this is a transit blog, so there’s a good chance it will be focused on issues pertaining to transit. Is the title of the blog too ambiguous for you?

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