Senate Transportation Committee co-chair Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, today released a $12.4 billion transportation plan. Video coverage of the press conference here. King writes in his cover letter to the governor and legislative transportation leaders that he wants to “restart negotiations,” a theme echoed at the press conference by Majority Leader Rodney Tom and others. As King notes, lawmakers are now more than halfway through the 2014 regular session and negotiations have not been so much stalled as nonexistent for two months. Yet, writes, King,

I feel strongly that if all sides are willing to compromise – consistent with common sense and good policy – we can produce a package this session that will win the necessary 59 votes in the House and 30 votes in the Senate, as well as the support of the people of the state of Washington.

Quickly identifying the magnitude of that challenge, The Olympian reports that today the King proposal still has a hill to climb in the Senate.

At least half of the 26-member Senate majority supports a new proposal that would raise the gas tax by 11 1/2 cents while making changes in how transportation money is spent, Sen. Curtis King says.

King said he has at least 13 votes for the plan he unveiled Thursday.

And the initial reception in the House is chilly.

But House Transportation Chairwoman Judy Clibborn signaled no readiness to restart talks because, she said, King still doesn’t have 25 votes to pass the plan through the Senate. Clibborn, a Mercer Island Democrat, said Democrats won’t agree to take sales tax revenue out of the main budget. King’s new proposal actually moves the parties farther apart, she said.

“They take double the sales tax (that they proposed before),” Clibborn said. That is absolutely a nonstarter. It is a real step backward,” Clibborn said.

Here’s how the Senate plan spends the money.

“We need to get back in that room,” Majority Coalition Leader Rodney Tom, D-Medina, said. “The governor’s going to have to show a lot of leadership.”

The next logical step is for the Senate to produce a package of transportation improvements that has 25 votes. If this happens, I’m confident we can find agreement before this session ends.