VETO MESSAGE ON HB 1786-S

                   March 31, 1998

To the Honorable Speaker and Members,

  The House of Representatives of the State of Washington

Ladies and Gentlemen:

     I am returning herewith, without my approval, Substitute House Bill No. 1786 entitled:

"AN ACT Relating to transportation improvement board reporting requirements;"

     SHB 1786 would require the Transportation Improvement Board to submit its prioritized list of projects to the Legislature for review before final budget decisions are made.

     The Transportation Improvement Board's prioritization process for local transportation projects was established to ensure that the investment of state transportation funds be sound and systematic.  Priority programming, by statute, is grounded in the rational selection of projects and services according to factual need and an evaluation of life cycle costs and benefits.  Projects selected by this process are then scheduled to carry out defined objectives within available revenues.  SHB 1786 would have threatened the integrity of that process by interjecting a layer of legislative screening of local projects, which are already adequately screened by the Transportation Improvement Board, a board that includes local elected officials.

     For these reasons, I have vetoed Substitute House Bill No. 1786 in its entirety.

                   Respectfully submitted,

                   Gary Locke

                   Governor