Senate passes Kilmer bill to use bridge fines to lower cost of tolls

OLYMPIA — Narrows Bridge commuters will pay a little less in tolls if a bill passed today by the Senate receives a similar reception in the House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 5391 is one of several bills sponsored by Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, to ease the cost of tolls on the new bridge. The bill requires a portion of penalties paid for toll violations to be transferred into the Narrows Bridge Tolling Account. The measure establishes a penalty of $40 plus three times the toll for those who cross the bridge without paying the toll. While current law fails to direct any of the fines into the Narrows Bridge tolling account, under SB 5391 the “three times the toll” portion of the fine would be deposited into the tolling account.

“Every dollar we can add to the tolling account will reduce the amount of money honest drivers must pay in tolls,” Kilmer said. “It’s only fair that those who pay the tolls should get a break from at least some of the money from the fines paid by toll violators.”

SB 5391 passed the Senate on a 39-8 vote, with 2 excused. If approved by the House, it would go to the governor for her signature.

Another Kilmer proposal to reduce the cost of tolls has yet to come to the Senate floor. His SB 5681 would exempt the Narrows Bridge project from the sales tax on bridge, a move that would shave $40-60 million from the cost of the project. “It fails the basic fairness test for commuters to be asked to pay a toll to pay a tax,” Kilmer said.

Additionally, Kilmer is pushing for $10 million in funding to halve the tolls for motorists who sign up for electronic transponder accounts during the bridge’s first year in operation. The transponders, popular in several other states, let motorists drive through tolling areas without stopping while cameras read their transponders and debit the users’ accounts. “Transponders can keep our traffic moving, and the best way to get people to try something new is to offer a discount,” Kilmer said.

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