Senate transportation leaders have proposed a bipartisan supplemental transportation budget for the 2011-13 biennium. The budget will add nearly $800 million to the $9 billion two-year budget period.

Sen Haugen: "Streamlining operations and reducing operating costs when possible and then we did update some fees that have not kept up with inflation over the years."

Committee Chair Mary Margaret Haugen says the supplemental budget will include funding for a new 144-vehicle ferry, restore the State Patrol’s auto theft program, support public transit and assist in the preservation of roads across the state. Committee member Senator Steve Hobbs says the bipartisan plan will also help create or sustain 43-thousand jobs throughout the state…

Sen Hobbs: “These jobs are going to provide paychecks to these households and it means purchases in our local stores, it means tax revenues to our local communities. So it’s good to see another jobs package like this one going out.”

Transportation leaders plan to maintain current levels of service through the remainder of this biennium and then use the new biennium to develop a plan that addresses the structural deficiencies behind the state’s declining transportation revenues.