Dec 19, 2012: A busy few days

• A great article in the Whitman College newspaper by student Sam Chapman. And David Frum on CNN.com. And Sightline's Anna Fahey says that a new poll shows that Americans are "conflicted on a carbon tax".
• Governor Gregoire's budget proposal came out yesterday; it's essentially focused on education. Despite rumors that she was going to introduce a transportation package, the only transportation element in her proposal is really about education: she wants to impose a wholesale excise tax on motor fuels that will fund pupil transport (i.e., yellow school buses). More here and here; eventually her proposal would amount to about 12 cents a gallon of gasoline.
• I think Gregoire's budget proposal emphasizes how challenging it will be for either climate folks or transportation folks to move their separate agendas forward in the months ahead. That's potentially good news for us since we're proposing that climate folks and transportation folks work together on a joint effort.
• PS. Gregoire also released a handy 5-pager that lays out her take on the state's transportation needs.