For state house speaker Frank Chopp the new session of the Legislature is all about “kitchen table” issues that affect everyday people.

And that does not include public funding for a $500 million arena for the Seattle SuperSonics.

On Monday, opening day of this year’s 60-day legislative session, Chopp said securing public funding for a remodeled KeyArena or a new venue for the Sonics is not a priority for the Legislature.

“We’re focusing on what the voters want us to focus in on, which is education, health care and jobs,” Chopp said. “And other issues, too, like the environment and government reform. There’s just not much interest out there about helping the Sonics.”

However, Chopp said he met with Seattle mayor Greg Nickels a few weeks before the legislative session. Chopp said Nickels made a proposal for a revamped KeyArena during the meeting, and later followed it up by e-mailing a preliminary plan for financing the proposal. However, Chopp said he hasn’t had a chance to review the numbers.

Chopp said he also planned to meet with other legislators in Olympia to talk about how they will respond should the city of Seattle submit a proposal this session for a remodeled KeyArena.

“In the past when ideas have been floated, first by the Sonics through Howard Schultz and then by (current Sonics chairman Clay) Bennett, there weren’t hardly any votes for anything,” Chopp said. “So I don’t know, we’ll see.”

Senate majority leader Lisa Brown said she’s heard nothing about an arena proposal for the Sonics.

“They haven’t contacted me,” Brown said. “Nothing has come up to the leadership level. And no senator has brought me any proposal they are working (on) or anybody they are working with.

“The time line is very short. If something is not on the table now it needs to get there soon.”

Seattle still has not revealed its plans for a remodeled KeyArena, although deputy mayor Tim Ceis said in December that the city would announce plans in the near future. Ceis has not given a specific date and did not return a phone call from The News Tribune on Monday seeking comment.

According to sources with knowledge of the plan, the city’s proposal will be similar to a plan it made to former Sonics chairman Schultz and his group, just before Schultz sold the team to Bennett’s group. The most expansive option in that plan would have provided $198 million for a KeyArena remodel.

But it required a public vote and a $49 million contribution from the team.
Bennett has said he’s not interested in any plan that involves remodeling KeyArena.

Also, timing is an issue. The Sonics and the city will soon file joint status reports, giving the judge in their federal court case over KeyArena lease terms, Marsha Pechman, some possible trial dates and other time guidelines. The filing deadline is Wednesday, after which Pechman is expected to set a date for a jury trial.

If the city gets the fall trial date it wants, the Sonics could be forced to play in Seattle another season.

With the Sonics filing an application with the NBA to relocate to Oklahoma City, interested observers are also keeping an eye on an Oklahoma City initiative. It goes to the voters March 4 asking for a penny increase in sales tax to raise $122 million to improve the Ford Center and build a practice facility for the arrival of an NBA team.

Meanwhile, Washington legislators such as Rep. Eric Pettigrew and Sen. Margarita Prentice, who initially supported arena proposals for the Sonics in past legislative sessions, say possibilities are dim to get something done this session.

“I haven’t heard a peep or anything, today or beforehand, about any motivation or interest to do anything,” Pettigrew said. “We have kind of gone through the ringer a couple times before and have kind of ground people into a situation where they were already sensitive to it anyway, as related to the other stadiums. So whatever sentiment we had before the last couple years, I just don’t have a sense for that now.”

Added Prentice: “I have had a number of people (legislators) ask me if there’s anything happening. … But there’s too many stumbling blocks.”