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Committee hears support for removing 'passenger-only' limit on county ferry districts

Senate Transportation Committee · January 22, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Supporters told the Senate Transportation Committee that SB 5839’s substitute would allow county ferry districts to carry vehicles — giving counties an additional financing option to replace aging vessels such as Whatcom County’s vessel — and improve transparency in ferry accounting.

Supporters of a substitute to Senate Bill 5839 told the Senate Transportation Committee on Jan. 22 that removing statutory 'passenger-only' limits on county ferry districts would give counties an additional local-option financing tool to operate and modernize vehicle ferries.

Clint McCarthy, committee staff, summarized the substitute: current statute authorizes county-owned ferries and county ferry districts, but districts are limited by statute to passenger-only service; the…

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