OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Gov. Chris Gregoire on Friday approved legislation to allow Washington cities and counties to impose a vehicle fee of as much as $20, without voter approval, to help finance transportation projects and transit.

Tim Eyman, sponsor of the initiative that brought $30 car tabs, said the measure disregards voters' clear demand for a public vote whenever an increase is proposed. He crashed the bill-signing ceremony at the Capitol, standing near the governor. He grimaced and gave a thumbs-down gesture to the TV and still cameras as Gregoire signed the measure.

Afterward, the governor asked Eyman if he wanted a souvenir pen like the bill backers were getting. He said yes, and she gave him one, along with a big smile. He departed, still frowning. Later he said he'd use the pen to gather signatures on his latest initiative, to make it harder for state lawmakers to raise taxes.

The new law is an expansion of a 2005 law that allows local transportation benefit districts to ask their voters to approve increases in the sales, property and gas tax, tolls, bonds, transportation impact fees, and vehicle fees of as much as $100 per car per year - either singly or as part of a package.

A district in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties is planning a vote, probably this fall, on a package currently estimated at $16 billion.

The new law will allow city councils and county councils and commissioners to impose impact fees or the first $20 of the vehicle fee without voter approval.

"Cities and counties often struggle to maintain their transportation systems in the face of escalating costs and limited revenues," the governor said. "This bill encourages local governments to partner with each other to invest in local transportation infrastructure, providing cities and counties with an additional tool to improve transportation."

The measure passed the Legislature on a largely partyline vote, and both supporters and critics had speculated that Gregoire might veto it. During her 2004 campaign, she had promised to resist tax hikes, but later supported a transportation tax package and taxes to close a spending gap in 2005, including "sin taxes" and restoring the estate tax on large estates.

But Gregoire said in an interview that she had no qualms about signing the measure, viewing it as strictly a local-option tool for strapped governments to consider.

"It's not Olympia imposing taxes, it's allowing local governments to do what they want to do for local roads," she said. "It's not me imposing taxes. I've always had an attitude that Olympia ought to allow local governments more authority.

"I've said to the cities and counties `Come to us with proposals for more options to use at the local level, closer to the people.' I don't think you should have to constantly come to Olympia for more authority. So this is in keeping with that."

She said Vancouver is the only local government that has expressed interest so far.

Vancouver, Kirkland and the state associations of cities and counties testified in favor of the bill, which was sponsored by Rep. Bill Fromhold, D-Vancouver, and the Vancouver delegation.

Fromhold said in a telephone interview that Vancouver is one of the few cities without a business and occupation tax and was searching for a revenue source to help fill an $11 million gap for road projects.

"Cities in particularly don't have adequate authority as local elected officials to deal with some of these important issues," he said. "This tax isn't mandated, it's an option, without going to the voters every single time."

City and county officials are directly accountable to their voters for tax votes - but also are expected to deal with congestion and unsafe roads, Fromhold said.

He said he didn't see the bill as a tax vote this session, but conceded he was happily surprised to see it pass the very year he proposed it.

Eyman said lawmakers quietly slipped it through without much public awareness that it was even pending. Voters have said repeatedly that they want $30 car tabs and that any proposed increases should go to the people for a vote, he said. He noted that the 2005 legislation specifically requires a vote for any of the revenue options.

"We've been working for 10 years for $30 car tabs and with one stroke of the pen, it's gone," he said.

Eyman said he'll use this new bill as "the poster child" for his Initiative 760, which would require broad public notice for all tax increases proposed in the Legislature.

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The bill is House Bill 1858.