Transportation talks roll on as Legislature extends session

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — With disputes over the state's education and operating budgets topping the Legislature's agenda for its imminent special session, the likelihood of lawmakers finding consensus on a transportation package to address the state's infrastructure needs has dipped out of the spotlight.

But leading lawmakers continue to negotiate a transportation deal, with the hopes of passing one in the coming weeks.

Washington passed a 2005 deal to build a lengthy list of roads, bridges and transit projects with $7 billion in new revenues, principally a 9.5-cent gas tax. The Legislature failed in each of the last two years to pass a follow-up plan.

Lawmakers don't face the same mandate to get a transportation deal done that the Supreme Court's contempt order puts behind education spending, but leaders have spoken of the urgency of passing a transportation package.