The Airport Communities Podcast
Our apologies for the delays between episodes – and for not being timely in updating you on our legislative efforts.
We keep trying to tell a story — to provide a background on how airports work — to benefit all airport communities. But this is the sixty-day legislative session in Olympia, the time of year where we have to try to turn those ideas into something real for you.
The bad news: to all of you who have been putting off much-needed repairs– waiting patiently to see results, it’s not looking good. There are still one or two efforts we’re monitoring, but they are Hail Marys.
In a previous episode we talked about the problems with the original version of SB 5652 (2025). People recognized the challenges in that earlier version, but it was a moot point because it had no funding. Given the short session and the State’s huge budget difficulties, frankly, we assumed it would be re-written as much simpler, straightforward bill to provide a direct path towards Port Package updates and help for cities when they most need it with the SAMP. Now.
Instead, SB5652 came back in an even more expansive version, and coupled with a new bill SB6240 — designed to provide money.
Clearly, we did not succeed in selling the benefits of a more measured, immediate approach. Part of the problem may be that we had not yet done our planned episode on allowable uses of aviation revenues and taxation. Like second airports or flight path fixes, STNI tends not to talk about concepts that are usually too good to be true. Maybe that’s on us. This episode reviews what went wrong with SB 6240 and introduces the concept of revenue diversion .
What happens at the airport stays at the airport
SB6240 would have relied on an aviation fuel tax. The principle is extremely intuitive, the revenue opportunities are massive, and as such, various stakeholders, throughout America try it all the time. Precisely because it is so irresistible, Congress went out of its way to make the regulations almost airtight and that is why we tell people: do not try this without a ton of research.
And yet, at the hearing, the WSDOT Director of Aviation was warning that S6240 may add to an ongoing conflict the state has been having with the FAA for over a decade. Advocates seemed oblivious, testifying in favor of it anyway, hoping to try again next session irrespective of her concerns.
As we describe in the episode, if bill sponsors insisted on looking at fuel taxes rather than other options, there were less fraught models.
Most people will say they can spot something when it is too good to be true. And yet we’ve watched so many people, year after year, rush to support bills like SB 6240 — without doing the research. We often get accused of being scoldy. But STNI is a living archive. Part of our mission is to provide that expert research, free of charge, to enable advocates in all airport communities to make good choices – not place bets and hope for the best.
Topics
- SB5652 (2026)
- SB6240 (2026) Ways & Means Hearing
- STNI Comments on SB5652/SB6240 (2026)
- FAA to WSDOT Ann Richart October, 2025
- RCW 53.020 – Aviation Impacted Area
- The STNI Airport Law Cheat Sheet
- Tweed New Haven Airport to get $11 million[…]to address noise
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