Not that Gov. Gary Locke’s state of the state address to the Legislature was any spellbinder, but it was surprising that it was carried live by only one radio station, KVI, and the Olympia public TV network, considering it was only 21 minutes long.

That’s as far as I know anyway. I had to hear it but not see it because my cable company won’t pick up the Olympia network. I didn’t need to look into their eyes, though, to know that the members of the 2002 Legislature are scared to death. In facing what lies before them, they must feel like frequent fliers did when flights were resumed right after 9-11. i.e., I know I’ve got to do it but I would rather be anyplace but here.

Nobody wants to vote for a gasoline tax increase in the face of what appears to be a statewide citizens’ revolt on the matter. Look what happened to Rep. Joe Marine. He was the canary in the coal mine. An appointed Republican, he said during his campaign last year to keep the seat that he was willing to vote for a gas tax. That did it. He was feet up in November.

People never fail to amaze me. They are ferocious in their antipathy toward gas tax increases. They demand proof that tax revenues are being spent wisely and are suspicious of what they’re told, yet they are willing to throw millions of dollars at education in the hope that someday educators will get it right and produce graduating students who don’t have to take remedial classes to get into college.

I think lawmakers will pass a transportation bill with some kind of tax in it, if they haven’t done it already, and refer it to the people for a spring vote. They have no other choice if Republicans refuse to give in on it. Let us not forget it was the governor who promised a public vote on a gas tax increase and reneged when the newspapers editorialized against it and demanded lawmakers act.

Initiative guru Tim Eyman has proposed that the lawmakers split their transportation funding plan into two parts, one raising the gas tax for roads, the other for “alternatives.” He also suggested they forget about raising truck fees (to keep truckers from lobbying against the plan) and putting a sales tax on vehicle sales and go instead to a small increase in the sales tax.

Eyman said Marty Brown, director of the Office of Financial Management, told him the change would require a .03 percent sales tax increase. I checked that out with the Department of Revenue and was told the .03 would raise $272, 460,000 a year.

Something that didn’t come to pass on the first day of the session, when it would have had to be done, was a change in apportionment of Senate committees. Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, who sees himself as more of an independent than a Democrat and occasionally votes with the Republicans, decided the minority wasn’t getting a fair shake.

There are 25 Democrats and 24 Republicans, which near split should be and is reflected in nearly all the committee assignments. Each committee has one more Democrat on it than Republican, except the three most important. Rules and Transportation each has 10 D’s and 7 R’s. Ways and Means has 12 D’s and 9 R’s. The cushion is to guarantee the majority against fallout.

“When I brought it up in caucus, it was like hitting a beehive with a stick,” Sheldon said. “I wasn’t proposing taking anyone off, but adding two Republicans to each. We talk about working together and having a bipartisan budget. There is no one from eastern Washington, Democrat or Republican, on Transportation.”

He didn’t get anywhere with that, but he’s pursuing another idea for meeting the revenue shortfall, privatizing liquor sales. That’s something that has attracted a lot of support over the years, particularly from newspaper editors, but eventually falls through the cracks because of the opposition from the state employees unions. Besides, it takes too long for savings to kick in.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.).