PNTR for Russia Progresses

Last week, Russia approved legislation ratifying the country's accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO). The measure making Russia the 156th WTO member will become law within 30 days.

Meanwhile, The Hill reported:  “The Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved a Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) measure combined with a repeal of Jackson-Vanik last Wednesday. During the past several weeks, business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable have ramped up their push for passage of a trade bill before lawmakers leave town for the summer break.”

"This is a huge message to the House and is the momentum burst the business community has been hoping for," Christopher Wenk, senior director of international policy at the U. S. Chamber, told The Hill. "This is the one issue in Washington with bipartisan support in the House and the Senate that can be signed by the President; there's no other issue out there. This is a fantastic outcome."

The Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee announced (7/20) they are cosponsoring legislation to terminate Jackson-Vanik status for Russia and Moldova, allowing Permanent Normal Trade Relations to be granted.

Congressman Adam Smith (WA-09), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, said, “While this legislation removes Russia from the Jackson-Vanik amendment, . . . (t)he underlying bill promotes rule of law in Russia and addresses significant enforcement concerns, particularly on the protection of intellectual property rights and Russia’s compliance with WTO obligations. (P)assage of this legislation will mean growth for American industry and workers by taking advantage of reduction in barriers to U.S. exports from the beginning. . . I remain particularly concerned about Russian international engagement and the ongoing violence in Syria.”

Bruce Josten, the U.S. Chamber's executive vice president for Government Affairs, said "The United States gives up nothing - not a single tariff - in approving PNTR." And John Murphy, the Chamber's vice president for International Affairs, said in a Free Enterprise blog post last Tuesday: "Momentum is building . . . With Russia's accession to the WTO set for August, we can't afford to wait."

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First Pierce County Flood Control Zone District Meeting

The first Board of Supervisors meeting for the Pierce County Flood Control Zone District will take place tomorrow, July 11, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. The meeting will address the district’s operating rules, the naming of board officers, procedures for establishing meetings, the approval of the purchase of liability insurance, indemnification matters, the appointment of an agent to receive claims for damages against the district, public records procedures, and the adoption of the annual budget.

The Flood Control Zone District was created by the Pierce County Council on April 3, 2012 to address the county’s flood control needs. Flood control is important in Pierce County as many of the river levees do not meet federal flood standards and are in need of maintenance and repairs. While our homes and businesses may or may not be at risk of flood damage, major flooding could seriously inhibit our ability to travel. Protecting Pierce County’s transportation infrastructure from flooding will help keep roadways and businesses open and operating without delays.

The Flood Control Zone District has a 2012 budget of $300,000 and will begin working on the 2013 budget this fall.

The meeting will be held at

930 Tacoma Avenue South-

Room 1045 Tacoma, WA 98402.

More information regarding the Flood Control Zone District may be accessed here: www.piercecountywa.org/fczd

City Surveys Community on Budget Priorities

In case you missed it, the Tacoma City Council is trying to fill an expected gap of ~$60M over the 2013-14 biennium.  While there are still plenty of opportunities to attend a community budget meeting where you can hear from the City and share your thoughts, the City has also put together a number of electronic options to provide your input.  Be forewarned that it can be a little overwhelming, especially since there is only limited detail available on many of the options listed.

The first survey ranks various services provided by the City in order of importance.  It takes about two minutes and consists of essentially one question.  It can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/City_of_Tacoma_City_Services_Questionnaire_2012

The second survey asks for suggestions on how to cut expenses or increase revenues.  It is a short three box form for those with ideas.  It can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B22HH9M

The final survey asks about the dollars and cents of the budget.  It requires a total of 15% be cut from the general fund budget while allocating dollars to various departments.  After this distribution, the survey goes department by department asking about which programs to increase or reduce funding to.  The survey also includes some background information on how the money is being spent.  It is more of a 15-20 minute survey and can be found here: http://www.cityoftacoma.org/citizensratingofservices

For more on the budget details, you can view the City Manager's presentation from the budget meeting discussion here: http://cms.cityoftacoma.org/CRO/COMPLETERatingResultsJune19StudySession_06_19_2012.pdf (3.8M file)

We encourage you to get involved in the discussion now.  If you'd rather comment in person, we've posted a list of times and locations of the community meetings here.

Transportation Act Passes

The Chamber and many allies celebrated Congress’s welcome exhibition of bipartisanship, as on Friday the House approved a roughly $105 billion federal Transportation bill by a lopsided 373-52 vote and the Senate approved it 74-19. 

President Barack Obama signed a one-week temporary measure Friday evening, permitting the highway and loan programs to continue until the full legislation reaches his desk for signature. Otherwise, the federal transportation and many state and local projects would have stopped today, June 30.

The first major transportation bill since 2005, the legislation would keep highway and transit spending at current levels through the end of fiscal year 2014.

It includes an expansion of a federal loan program to fast-track bus and rail projects in traffic-choked regions.  The transportation measure would create or save 3 million jobs, said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA, chief sponsor of the Senate version of the bill

The following are some of the freight-related components in the bill:

·        Projects of National and Regional Significance – (Sec. 1120 – or page 90)

·        National Freight Policy (Sec. 1115, §167 – or page 66)

o   Calls for the establishment of a national freight network

o   Calls for a national freight strategic plan

·        A call for the prioritization of projects to improve freight movement (Sec. 1116 – or page 70)

o   Allows for increased Federal Share (up to 95% for projects on Interstate system; 90% for other projects)

§  Eligible projects:

·        construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, and operational improvements directly relating to improving freight

·        movement;

·        intelligent transportation systems and other technology to improve the flow of freight;

·        efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of freight movement on the primary freight network;

·        railway-highway grade separation;

·        geometric improvements to interchanges and ramps.

·        truck-only lanes;

·        climbing and runaway truck lanes;

·        truck parking facilities eligible for funding under section 1401;

·        real-time traffic, truck parking, roadway condition, and multimodal transportation information systems;

·        improvements to freight intermodal connectors; and improvements to truck bottlenecks.

·        State Freight Advisory Committees are encouraged (Sec. 1117 – or page 70)

·        State Freight Plans are encouraged (Sec. 1118 – or page 71)

Rs dropped an effort trying to use the bill to advance the controversial Keystone XL pipeline to move oil from western Canada to Texas' Gulf Coast.  Ds made concessions that are likely to lead to less funding for bicycle, pedestrian and beautification project and would halve the time allowed for environmental reviews for highway projects. “This measure includes historic reforms – cutting red tape and consolidating or eliminating nearly 70 federal programs,” said House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica, R-FL.

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The Alaska Railroad says that Congress struck a deal to save it from a massive budget cut that could have meant large-scale layoffs and less passenger service.  Railroad officials said Alaska's U.S. Rep. Don Young's office told them Thursday the railroad should expect a $4 million cut instead of the $30 million cut proposed in the Senate version.

Not related to transportation:

The bill also includes a measure to renew the federal flood insurance program for five years. Congressional leaders paved the way for the bill’s approval after dropping a measure that would have forced millions of property owners living near flood control facilities to buy flood insurance. The mandate was designed to shore up an insurance program that is billions of dollars in debt, largely because of Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 hurricanes.

The measure also would avert a doubling of interest rates for millions of college student loans that was threatened to hit Sunday. The student loan measure spares an estimated 7.4 million students who get subsidized Stafford loans beginning July 1 — this Sunday — from facing $1,000 in higher interest costs over the lives of their loans, which typically take over a decade to repay.

Tacoma Seeks Planning Commissioner

The Tacoma Planning Commission has an opening for a citizen residing in Council District No. 5 (south and south end), for a 3-year term that expires on June 30, 2015. 

To apply, contact Cindy DeGrosse, Mayor’s Office, 747 Market Street, Room 1200, Tacoma, WA 98402, (253) 594-7848, or visit http://www.cityoftacoma.org/Page.aspx?hid=1834. 

Applications are due no later than Friday, July 13, 2012.

Medical Cannabis in Tacoma

At 5:30PM tonight, June 26th, the Tacoma City Council will hold a public hearing on medical cannabis.  They will be looking for comments on a package of regulations proposed by the Planning Commission prepared in response to the moratorium.


While there continues to be some confusion over the effect of the moratorium put in place last summer, the package of regulations are designed to replace the prohibition.  Namely the regulations:

• Allow medical cannabis "network member distribution centers" in all non-residential zones, with the exception of the T (Transitional Commercial District), NRX (Neighborhood Residential Mixed-Use District), RCX (Residential Commercial Mixed-Use District), and URX (Urban Residential Mixed-Use District) zones.
• Allow medical cannabis "collective gardens" use to be allowed in the M-1 (Light Industrial District), M-2 (Heavy Industrial District), PMI (Port Maritime Industrial District), UCX-TD (Urban Commercial Mixed-Use-Tacoma Dome District), CIX (Commercial Industrial Mixed-Use District), DCC (Downtown Commercial Core District), DMU (Downtown Mixed-Use District, and WR Warehouse Residential District) zones.
• Apply 1,000-foot buffers around schools, daycares and religious facilities.
• Limit "network member distribution centers" to 500 to 2,000 square feet, or 1,500 s.f. within a 3,000 s.f. maximum space when co-located with other uses associated with health and wellness.
• Limit no more than six collective gardens to co-locate on a single site.
• Limit signage to 7.5 s.f. with no dimension greater than 36".

Comments can also be submitted to lshadduc@cityoftacoma.org