Senate passes Keystone ferry bill

OLYMPIA — This morning the Senate passed a bill to provide for the construction of a replacement ferry for the Keystone – Port Townsend run.

Senate Bill 6794, sponsored by Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, directs the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to construct new ferries for service on routes like Keystone that require vessels with a car-carrying capacity of no more than 100 vehicles.

“This is a big week for people who rely on Washington State Ferries,” said Haugen, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee. “A temporary ferry is making her sea trials on the Keystone route, this morning we passed legislation to build a new boat, WSF has a new chief, and this afternoon my committee will be discussing what kind of planning and reporting the Legislature expects from WSF in the future.”

The bill passed over the opposition of eight Republican senators, one of whom said that there wasn’t an immediate need to restore “the convenience” of the Keystone – Port Townsend run, while another rose to comment that requiring ferries to be built in Washington would be like requiring school buses to be built locally as well.

“I’m disappointed that some of my colleagues are willing to stop this because we’re not going to outsource our ferry construction,” said Haugen. “That might save a few bucks, but it would cost us a lot of time and not take advantage of the skilled workforce in our local shipyards. We’ve already built a boat just like this right here in the Puget Sound, and it seems clear to me that we can get a new ferry built sooner by keeping it local. We already have the construction plans here and the workforce here — it just seems like common sense to move in that direction.”

Haugen pointed out that getting new vessels for the Keystone – Port Townsend run is just part of what she hope to accomplish for ferry customers this session.

“I introduced a bill yesterday that deals with long term planning and accountability at Washington State Ferries, and we’ll be discussing that this afternoon.”

Senate Bill 6932 requires WSF to develop plans for vessel rebuild, replacement, maintenance and preservation. It will also require a vessel deployment plan to ensure that the fleet is being used as efficiently as possible, measures to maximize efficiency by reducing dry-dock time, and requirements to notify the legislature of any vessels not being maintained according to their established schedules.

SB 6932 is scheduled to be heard this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 1 of the Cherberg Building.

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