Not all of them, mind you, but some are talking about tolls, and that is significant. A couple years ago, the Legislature passed a budget that removed Alaskan Way Viaduct from the list of projects that were assumed to be paid for with tolls.

So, bringing back such talk is the beginning of something.

Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, chairwoman of the House Transportation Comittee, sent an e-mail to her fellow House Democrats. She's explaining what's going on in the wake of Gov. Chris Gregoire's annoucement about that the guv is recommending a tunnel be built (after insisting for a year or so that it must be another elevated viaduct.) Clibborn is referring to the deal between Gregoire, Seattle, King County and Port of Seattle.

The agreement sets the state’s commitment at $2.82 billion. This is $420 million more than we have currently earmarked for the project. No decision has been reached on how that $420 million will be financed, but tolls are being considered.

Check out my earlier post, which has a link to the letter of agreement.

Here is the rest of Clibborn's e-mail, in case Reps. Richard DeBolt, Dan Roach and the rest of the minority Republican caucus are interested. (They weren't on the list.)

=> Read more!

Now don't get mad at me, Randy Hodgins, but I had to laugh when I read that Qwest Field won't support the University of Washington's "fan base." It has only, what, 60,000 seats?

And that's why you want Husky stadium to have more than 72,000 seats.

Right now, I think the Husky fan base (and I'm a UW alum, OK?) would fit quite comfortably into one of those canoes on the Montlake Cut.

One of the two daily newspapers in Seattle has an article about how hard it will be to get the Legislature to approve use of King County taxes for Dawg pound expansion.

Here's a good story in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, which is still in business, by the way.

OK. I'm officially suffering from informational overload.

A technology immigrant such as myself was barely able to create a NetVibes page so I could keep track of what my statehouse colleagues were writing.

Then, last night Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, told me all the Senate Democrats have their own blogs. Holy Blogosphere, Batman!

I haven't decided which ones I will put on a NetVibes page, but Kilmer said Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, is a real hoot!

Here's a link to the Senate Democrats' blog page.

(View it at your own risk.)

I'm guessing the good senators' most prolific blogging will be done when the full Senate is in session and their colleagues are delivering floor speechs.

I think it would be taxpayers statewide, but it's impossible to tell from the agreement struck by Gov. Chris Gregoire, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, King County Executive Ron Sims and the Port of Seattle.

Here's the letter of agreement that was signed by the guv, mayor and exec.

Read it carefully. The letter says each government takes on specific responsibilities for parts of the project and that includes "project cost overruns," for what is now ESTIMATED to be a $4.24 billion project.

(The Big Dig, by the way, is a project in Boston that started out with a $2.8 billion estimate, then ran into trouble and will end up costing $22 billion. It's the most expensive highway project in history. And it's a TUNNEL! In a waterfront city!)

First, the governor has committed state taxpayers to spend at least $2.82 billion on the Alaskan Way Tunnel. (Notice how it keeps growing from $2.4 billion to $2.8 billion to $2.81 billion to $2.82 billion?) But even that's not firm. The agreement doesn't put that dollar amount limit on the state's financial obligation. That's just an "estimate."

Even worse, the state appears to be taking on the portion of the project that is most likely to encounter Big Dig sorts of overruns: the tunnel.

=> Read more!

Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, is the lead sponsor on Senate Bill 5163, a measure that would suspend for two years (the 2009-11 biennium) the state program that sets aside 1/2 percent of the money spent on state construction projects for public art.

Here is a link to his bill.

"The governor talked about sacred cows (in her inaugural address) and this is a sacred cow," Hobbs said. Gov. Chris Gregoire said Wednesday some sacred cows should be put out to pasture. "Everyone's concerned about the budget."

Hobbs said the estimated savings is $5 million for the next biennium. The state is facing a $6 billion deficit over the next 30 months.

UPDATE: Here's how much money the state has spent on public art in recent years.
2002-03: $3 million.
2004-05: $4 million.
2006-07: $4.5 million
And last year, the state spend $1.9 million.

"I actually like the program, but everyone's gotta tighten their belts," he said.

Mark Gerth, spokesman for the Washington State Arts Commission, said the 1/2 percent set-aside for public art is for state buildings, colleges and public schools. That means the state portion of public school funding is used to calculate how much should be spent on public art in high schools, etc.

"Ours is one of the few programs in the nation that extends to public schools and we're very proud of that," Gerth said.

He's gonna get back to me with numbers on how much has been spent on art in the past.

Hobbs has a mix of Democrats and Republicans signed on as co-sponsors. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee, but is not yet scheduled for public hearing.

Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, is the prime sponsor of a bill that would prohibit the state from spending any money on public art when the state is buildign additions to the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island or on any of the halfway houses for sex offenders who graduate from the "big house"

That 1/2 percent of construction costs. I believe there is a planned expansion to the facility that how houses about 300 civilly committed sex offenders.

His proposal is Senate Bill 5217.

Here is the full text of the bill.

There is another, broader bill that would eliminate public art funding for all state projects and it's got bipartisan sponsorship. The impetus for that is the $6 billion budget deficit. Not sure how that one will fare. The Arts Commission has clout with many lawmakers.

I'll get back to you on that broader bill. I have to find it again.