Washington State Legislature Fails to Pass $7,500 EV Rebates
Gov. Jay Inslee proposed spending $100 million to subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles, but only $25 million was earmarked for EV incentives in the budget that was passed on Thursday.
(TNS) — An ambitious scheme to nearly double government subsidies for electric vehicles — along with a slew of climate policies — saw mixed results in Washington state's supplemental budget approved this week by legislators.
To nudge drivers away from fossil fuels, Gov. Jay Inslee proposed in December spending $100 million to subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles. However, in the supplemental budget announced Wednesday, only $25 million was earmarked for the incentives and with no clear structure yet indicating who would be eligible, when or for how much. The Legislature passed the budget late Thursday.
With public demand for green cars comparatively low in Washington state and the infrastructure for electrified transportation still in its infancy, the proposal might have been premature.
"We've decided to focus primarily on public infrastructure and charging availability," said Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee Chair Reuven Carlyle, D- Seattle, on Thursday.
The legislature appropriated $207 million for charging infrastructure and $120 million for electric-vehicle incentives through the end of the next biennium, in June 2025. Included in the latter is $95 million reserved for the next legislative session, while $25 million will become available in June.
Rebates on electric vehicles and charging infrastructure could be part of that program but are not explicitly required, according to the governor's office. . . .
Included in the supplemental operating budget is $69 million for grants to create EV charging infrastructure in rural areas, office buildings, housing and other state and local government offices; $25 million for EV incentives; and $8.5 million to create a map of charging locations — all of which will be hashed out in the coming months, and years, by the state's Department of Commerce. . . .
While the proposal for EV rebates saw mixed results this session, lawmakers allocated millions in spending to, among other things, install an additional 150 electric-vehicle charging stations around the state and $2 million to provide charging stations for cruise ships idling while docked at the Port of Seattle's downtown terminal.
"We really need to go big on these clean transportation investments and continue to do so session after session," Missik said.
The supplemental budget also allocated funds to improve air quality monitoring and access to solar energy in overburdened or low-income communities, advance the production of hydrogen fuel and reduce methane emissions from landfills. . . .