State transportation officials may request bonds for highway projects

The Department of Transportation may request the state to issue and sell up to $800 million in general obligation bonds. The bond money may pay for highway project location, design, right-of-way, construction, bond anticipation notes, and issuance costs. The state finance committee handles the bonds under the state's bond-issuance rules. The bonds may not be offered for sale without a prior legislative appropriation of the sale proceeds. The proceeds must be deposited in the Move Ahead Washington account and used only for the listed purposes. The act takes effect immediately, but bonds may be issued only when the Department of Transportation requests them and the required appropriation exists.

Fuel taxes and qualifying vehicle fees are pledged to repay the bonds' principal and interest. The pledge applies to fuel taxes and Title 46 vehicle fees that are license fees for vehicles used on highways. Payments generally come from money distributed to the Move Ahead Washington account. If that account lacks enough money, other distributions to the state, counties, cities, or towns may be used. Any money taken from those other distributions must be repaid from the first later revenues available in the Move Ahead Washington account. The bonds share an equal claim on these fuel-tax and vehicle-fee revenues with certain other state general obligation bonds. The repayment rules apply when principal or interest on the bonds becomes due and continue for bonds issued under the act.

The state may issue the listed bond amounts for the State Route 520 corridor, transportation headquarters, highway improvements, and public-private transportation projects. The listed amounts are $2.45 billion for State Route 520, $15 million for a Department of Transportation district headquarters, $100 million for specified highway and federal-match purposes, and $25.625 million for public-private transportation initiatives. The highway-improvement bonds include limits for demonstration projects, advances of federal construction money, and loans to local governments for federal matching funds. Local-government loans may last no more than 10 years and use the bond interest rate. Any remaining unissued bonds under the specified authorizations expire on June 30, 2026. The June 30, 2026 expiration applies to the authority to issue remaining unissued bonds under the specified authorizations.