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Panel hears proposal to create state supply-chain competitiveness program for ports
Summary
The committee heard engrossed Senate Bill 5649, which would direct the Washington Department of Transportation to create a grant and loan program for public and tribal ports to support freight projects not eligible for existing Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board funding; ports and port associations urged support and noted rural project needs and examples of multimillion-dollar costs.
The Technology, Economic Development, and Veterans Committee heard testimony Feb. 18 on engrossed Senate Bill 5649, which would authorize the Washington Department of Transportation to establish a state supply-chain competitiveness infrastructure program providing grants and loans to public and tribal ports.
Senator Marco Elias (D-21st), the bill's prime sponsor, told the committee the measure would set program parameters so the Legislature could later fund it through the budget process. "Ports affect our daily lives from the smartphones we use to the groceries we buy," Elias said, arguing the pandemic showed how brittle supply chains can be and that a targeted state program would help ports maintain critical infrastructure and preserve good-paying jobs.
Martha Whaling, staff to the committee, summarized the bill's…
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