A bill is revised to add funding to keep the state's passenger-only boats running through June 2001. There is no quick fix for passenger-only ferries.
More time is needed, along with money to keep the state's boats running during that time.
A Senate Transportation Committee subcommittee agreed on that, but not much else. The group formed two weeks ago to find ways to replace the state's passenger-only ferry service, which lost funding under Initiative 695 and will shut down June 30 if the Legislature doesn't provide more money. In the past few days, the subcommittee combined and refined Sen. Tim Sheldon's Senate Bill 6212 with Senate Bill 6477 sponsored by Sen. Betti Sheldon, D-Bremerton. It includes transit officials, private ferry operators, labor leaders and others. Oke and Tim Sheldon voted to pass substitute House Bill 6212 to the full Senate Transportation Committee, which will hear it on Monday.