Gov. Jay Inslee responded to a lawsuit announcement today by the Washington State Legislature that challenges his May veto of language in the transportation budget.
“We don’t believe this issue has been addressed by the courts and we understand the Legislature’s desire to settle the question about important institutional powers.
"The language was vetoed because it indirectly amends an existing statute through the transportation budget. Our Constitution does not allow laws to be changed indirectly. The language would have prevented the Washington State Department of Transportation from considering clean fuels as a factor in the grant selection process of nearly $190 million in multimodal grant funding, contradicting that statute’s mandate to consider 'energy efficiency issues' in the grant selection process.
"This is a respectful difference of opinion, and we look forward to forthcoming guidance from our courts.”