State Rep. Deb Eddy (D-Kirkland) push hard last week to make it easier and cheaper for Washingtonians to purchase and drive electric vehicles.

Eddy, who represents the 48th District, which includes part of Bellevue, spoke before the House Technology, Energy and Communications committee meeting on Thursday, Jan. 29, that House Bill 1481 is a necessary step towards building the kind of infrastructure that makes possible the early deployment of electric vehicles.

“We must make it easy for this transportation technology to grow,” Eddy said, “both to reduce our carbon footprint and to reduce our reliance on foreign oil.”

Eddy’s legislation would:

Provide numerous tax incentives such as B&O tax deductions for installing electric car plug-ins and sales tax exemptions for purchasing electric vehicles or electric vehicle batteries;

Set targets for larger counties to provide dedicated private and public parking spaces that are “electric vehicle ready;”

Require certain kinds of new or retrofitted parking garages, parking lots, office and retail spaces and homes to be built with the electric circuitry that supports electric vehicle charging;

Require cities in large counties to begin incorporating charge spots in on-street parking areas near larger commercial and multi-family developments; and

Set targets for the state to purchase electric vehicles when replacing fleet vehicles.

If enacted, Washington would become only the fourth state to aggressively tackle the creation of an electric vehicle infrastructure. Hawaii, California and Oregon have partnered with manufacturers of the vehicles and network suppliers to begin building the technology and network necessary to make electric cars an attractive choice for consumers.

Eddy is hopeful that the growing urgency to take action on climate change will prompt the Legislature to move quickly.

“While the governor is announcing her own climate agenda this morning, we’re beginning to take the concrete steps necessary to make things happen,” she said.