Port Package Update bill signed into law!

SB5955 now the second program of its kind in nation!

Olympia WA: Today, Governor Jay Inslee signed into law SB5955, the Port Package Update bill, making Sea-Tac Airport now (after San Francisco International) the second airport in America with a sound insulation update program–and the only airport with a State mandate to help fund and audit how well it performs.

On behalf of STNI, I want to express Big Thanks to everyone who helped us get this bill over the line. My only regret is that there were no homeowners, the people with all the problems, who testified repeatedly to make legislators (finally) understand the need. Unfortunately, we did not receive notice of the signing until about 18 hours before the signing. (sigh)

Port Packages are only one issue we advocate on, but it’s especially meaningful to us because it was one of the first things we started working on in 2016. It’s taken almost seven years to get here.

After spending almost two years visiting homes with pretty serious issues (and frankly getting nowhere with the Port), in Spring of 2019 I happened upon Rep. Orwall and Sen. Keiser at a union hall in Des Moines. I asked them if they were aware of homeowners having problems with something called ‘Port Packages’. 😀 This was at a time when the Port of Seattle and almost every elected we talked to insisted that there were no problems! (One councilmember, a professional window cleaner, said that it was simply a case of a few ‘foggy windows’.)

But to their great credit, Sen. Keiser and Rep. Orwall did take the issue seriously. Even then, it took not one, but two pieces of legislation to get the Port to agree to create a program, and for the State, and now Senator Murray to throw in some money to get it going. (As of today there is $12.5M, which is nowhere near what we need, but already more than we expected.)

This is the first real progress on airport issues in decades. But with your help, we’re gonna do a lot more. The Port has taken almost thirty years to complete the sound insulation program it promised for the Third Runway! And despite many more aircraft, and much more noise and pollution, covering a much wider area around the airport, the eligible boundary for Port Packages has been shrinking. The number of homes that should be eligible is now almost twice the number that actually have Port Packages. This is simply unjust.

We will not stop until every home under the flight path has the proper sound insulation and indoor air quality!

For those of you with bad Port Packages, the program will (hopefully) begin running in early 2025. But you should be contacted by the Port long before then to do an assessment of your home and you need to get ready!

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^*Note to self: Next time you meet the Governor, remember where the camera is. 😀