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SOUTH COUNTY AREA TRANSPORTATION BOARD (SCATBD) <br />September Meeting Summary —Tuesday, September 18, 2018 <br />Introductions & Approval of meeting summary — August SCATBd meeting minutes approved. <br />ii. Reports and Communications — <br />• Vice Chair Johnson asked that a Seattle Times article about car subscriptions be distributed to <br />the membership. <br />• Cynthia Foley, Regional Transit Committee: May act on strategic plan report on Metro's <br />performance. <br />• Councilmember Kwon: Airport hosting public meetings on the Strategic Airport Master Plan and <br />is accepting public comments both at meetings and online. <br />• National League of Cities: Accepting applications for federal advocacy committee. <br />iii. Reema Griffith, Executive Director, WA Transportation Commission - Road Usage Charge Pilot <br />Program — The Road Usage Charge is a leading idea nationally for toolbox of transportation funding. <br />Gas tax won't be able to fund future transportation needs. CA and WA currently have the highest <br />gas taxes in the nation. Only 8 cents of the 49.4 cents of gas tax levied currently is available for new <br />projects, remainder pays for debt and previous bonds to fund projects. By 2027, 70% of state gas <br />tax revenues will go to debt service payments. The fuel efficiency bar continues to rise. Current <br />federal CAFE standards: 54.5MPG by 2025. Projections show that car mpg standards will increase <br />faster. Auto manufacturers are setting the pace and Volvo, GM, Toyota, Ford and Tesla all have <br />plans for electric and hydrogen vehicles — non -gas engines will yield lower gas tax revenues. 45% <br />decline in gas tax revenue is expected by 2035. Road usage charge a potential solution rather than <br />paying by the gallon of gas. WA is not alone but along with West Consortium is testing, researching <br />and enacting road usage charge programs. Eight states are conducting research, four are testing <br />and one has a legislatively -enacted program (Oregon). <br />Since 2012, the WA Transportation Commission has led RUC work with a 25 member steering <br />committee comprised of diverse stakeholders including three commissions, eight legislators. Costs <br />to administer the system could be 2-8% of overhead but will vary if WA is alone vs. national or with <br />other state implementation. Another cost reduction if billing for charges could be paired with <br />phone or other utility companies. Assuming that there will be two systems (gas and Road Usage) <br />while debt is being paid off and Road Usage Charge begins, that consumers will pay one but not <br />both systems simultaneously. Why not just keep increasing the gas tax? We would have to raise the <br />gas tax by 1.5 cents per gallon, per year on all vehicles from 2019-43 to equal the net revenue from <br />a RUC of 2.4 cents per mile. This would not address growing needs for improvements or <br />maintenance. The transportation revenue line currently associated with all of this growth in Seattle <br />is flat- big red flag indicating people making other less gas using transportation options. RUC would <br />increase, tax for cars with lower mpg but costs to operate those cars would still be higher as gas <br />costs are greater. RUC enables funding sustainability & policy harmonization. Out of state drivers <br />can be captured. Small pool of people being included in the pilot program. <br />39 <br />