Washington State LCFS No Longer Contingent on Transportation Bill

Washington Governor Jay Inslee made it official on Monday, signing both the cap-and trade and low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) legislation. Before adding his signature to the bill, he cut against the grain and issued partial vetoes to subsections of both bills.

Inslee’s actions received pushback from both sides of the aisle for vetoing the transportation package mandate contained in the bills.  The LCFS bill that went to the Governor’s desk originally hinged LCFS implementation on the future passage of the transportation package.  That is no longer the case, and legislators have vowed to challenge the vetoes in court, as they did successfully in 2019 after Inslee line-item vetoed provisions in the transportation budget.

Not all agree that Inslee’s actions were wrong.  Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon feels that fastening implementation of the LCFS…