Late Wednesday night, the House adopted its version of SB 6130, repealing for two years the two-thirds-vote requirement for tax increases and some of the transparency provisions of Initiative 960 enacted by the voters in 2007.
The vote in the House was 51-47.
Because the House made changes to the bill (added back e-mail notification of tax increases), it now goes back to the Senate for approval and then to Gov. Chris Gregoire for signature.
The repeal of the two-thirds-vote requirement will clear the way for tax increases. Wednesday, Gregoire proposed $605 million in tax increases.
Though the governor plans to sign the two-year repeal of the two-thirds-vote requirement for tax increases, she has not indicated whether she supports the Legislature’s plan for a two-year repeal of nonbinding advisory votes for tax increases enacted with a referendum denying emergency clause.
The intent section of I-960 discusses the goal of the non-binding tax advisory votes:
From I-960:
Our state constitution guarantees to the people the right of referendum. In recent years, however, the Legislature has thwarted the people’s constitutional right to referendum by excessive use of the emergency clause. ... The people find that, if they are not allowed to vote on a tax increase, good public policy demands that at least the Legislature should be aware of the voters’ view of individual tax increases. An advisory vote of the people at least gives the Legislature the views of the voters and gives the voters information about the bill increasing taxes and provides the voters with legislators’ names and contact information and how they voted on the bill. The people have a right to know what’s happening in Olympia.
By repealing for two years the nonbinding advisory votes, lawmakers that vote for a tax increase will be spared from having their names show up in the voters pamphlet next to a description of the tax increases they supported as required by RCW 29A.32.070:
Two pages shall be provided in the general election voters pamphlet for each measure for an advisory vote of the people under RCW 43.135.041 and shall consist of the serial number assigned by the secretary of state under RCW 29A.72.040, the short description formulated by the attorney general under RCW 29A.72.283, the tax increase’s most up-to-date 10-year cost projection, including a year-by-year breakdown, by the office of financial management under RCW 43.135.031, and the names of the legislators, and their contact information, and how they voted on the increase upon final passage so they can provide information to, and answer questions from, the public. For the purposes of this subsection, ‘names of legislators, and their contact information’ includes each legislator’s position (senator or representative), first name, last name, party affiliation (for example, Democrat or Republican), city or town they live in, office phone number and office e-mail address.
Short of a change of heart in the Senate, the only thing that can ensure the nonbinding tax advisory votes as intended by the voters remains in effect is Gregoire’s veto pen. The constitution provides the governor line-item veto authority, which means she could approve the two-year repeal of the two-thirds-vote requirement while maintaining the nonbinding tax advisory vote provision.
Jason Mercier is the director of the Center for Government Reform at the Washington Policy Center. He serves on the Executive Committee of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force and is a contributing editor of the Heartland Institute’s Budget & Tax News. Mercier also serves as treasurer on the board of the Washington Coalition for Open Government and was an adviser to the 2002 Washington State Tax Structure Committee.
