State Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, is now planning to ask the Legislature for help with flood reduction and other water issues by providing $3.4 billion, more than double the amount he requested in the Legislative session earlier this year.
DeBolt’s $1.5 billion Flood Hazard Reduction Act of 2014 failed in March during the last Legislative session. The new proposal for $3.4 billion includes a more statewide approach that addresses stormwater runoff and water storage along with flood reduction, according to the 20th District legislator.
“I went into this to fix flooding in Western Washington,” DeBolt said. “As I moved forward, I brought in more flood people and it grew a little. Then stormwater people came in and we said we should look at water as a whole. It was more of a coalition concept. It gives us a better chance.”
DeBolt estimates about $400 million to $700 million would go toward the Chehalis River Basin, similar to what was requested in the failed flood bill.
The local allocated money would fund the results of a recommendation from the Chehalis Work Group — a flood-policy group appointed by the governor two years ago— on whether or not to build a dam on the Upper Chehalis River Basin.
The work group is scheduled to make its recommendation to the state Legislature by November.
“I don’t know what the (flood) solution would be yet,” DeBolt said. “That is not my part.”
The House Capital Budget Committee held a workshop last week to discuss financing options for the $3.4 billion proposal. The committee considered various options including extending sales tax to bottled water, which was eliminated in 2010. The group also researched a statewide stormwater fee, utility fees and redirecting public utility revenue.
“They were just options that have been explored in the past,” DeBolt said. “I don’t think the bottled water (tax) will go forward. We just want to do this as a statewide effort.”
DeBolt said the committee is attempting to fund the bill without raising taxes.
"We are looking at cash options too,” DeBolt said. “Literally, we are moving forward to do this without raising taxes. It depends on how much money is needed. We have to figure it out. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
J. Vander Stoep, an alternate to the Chehalis River Basin Flood Authority and a member of the governor’s work group, said the budget committee is trying to split the funding in thirds between flood reduction, water storage and stormwater runoff.
“It happens that there are several water-related needs that are evident now around the state,” Vander Stoep said. “We are not the only place in Western Washington that floods, that is what has brought a number of different (people) together to say it’s time for another water package."
Statewide, floods have cost more than $2 billion in direct and indirect cost since 1980, according to the budget committee.
Previously, the region has received $5 million in 2012 and $28.2 million last summer from the state for flood relief.
DeBolt, ranking Republican on the budget committee, plans to hold statewide stakeholder meetings and public hearings before writing the $3.4 billion bill for the next Legislative session in 2015.
Keeping the scope of the bill statewide gives it the best chance to pass and bring funding to the local Chehalis River Basin, DeBolt said.
“We are not going to try to do this on our own,” he said. “We are going to try to do this as a statewide initiative.”
