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Resolution in Support of Local-Option Transit Funding

Whereas a key source of funding for King County METRO Transit will expire in mid-2014, resulting in a 17% loss of service hours, and Snohomish County has already cut all Sunday transit service; and

Whereas new transit funding will take almost a year to put in place; and

Whereas for many people in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties, transit provides the only way to get to work or to access other critical services; and

Whereas King County METRO, Snohomish County Community Transit, and Pierce County Transit all give extra emphasis to maintaining routes that serve communities of color and low-income communities; and

Whereas 43% of people who work in Seattle go to work via transit; and

Whereas if even a small part of that 43% were to switch to driving, it would result in a significant increase in congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, with similar effects in the rest of King County and in Pierce and Snohomish Counties; and

Whereas congestion harms the local economy and reduces jobs and our tax base; and

Whereas reduction in transit will likely harm low-income people, both directly and secondarily by reducing county services;

Therefore be it resolved that we call on our state legislators and the governor to support a measure allowing King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties to enact a local tax to replace lost funding and increase coordination between transit authorities, to increase efficiency and prevent transit cuts; and

Be it further resolved that we urge the King, Pierce and Snohomish County Councils to support and implement such local options as the Legislature may permit, without a vote of the people, to avert the dire consequences in service cuts that would result from failing to take immediate action in the current fiscal year; and

Be it finally resolved that we urge our state legislators and the governor to support inclusion of a Motor Vehicle Excise Tax in the 2013 transportation package, as a progressive and sustainable funding source for transit.

Adopted _____­­________ by_________________________

 Originated by Chris Eggen, chrisEggen@comcast.net

Edited by the King County Democrats Resolutions Committee

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