By KYLEE ZABEL
WNPA Olympia News Bureau
Sen. Pam Roach, an Auburn Republican, urged voters to “look out for [their] pocketbooks” after the state Supreme Court declared a two-thirds-vote to raise taxes unconstitutional in a 6-3 ruling.
The court’s determination was made based on a lawsuit filed by the League of Education Voters, along with House Democrat members and other stakeholders in July 2011 challenging the constitutionality of Initiative 1035 passed in 2010.
Some critics of that decision deemed it appalling that the court chose to side with constitutional technicalities, rather than the vote of the people. The ruling, prepared by Justice Susan Owens, states that the supermajority requirement is in conflict with Article II, section 22 of the state’s constitution, which essentially outlines the prerequisite for simple-majority rule.
“The State’s proposed reading of article II, section 22, would fundamentally alter our system of government, and such alteration is possible only through constitutional amendment,” she wrote. “Washington’s government was founded as a representative democracy based on simple majority rule.”
Justices Charles Johnson and James Johnson wrote dissenting opinions, suggesting that the courts shouldn’t be playing politics.
“In its eagerness to embroil itself in the political arena, the majority abandons any semblance of judicial restraint to declare the process of legislative enactment constitutionally infirm,” wrote Justice Charles Johnson.
Republicans expressed disappointment at the ruling Thursday and predicted tax increases are inevitable, especially in a Democrat-controlled House.
“We have the opening of the floodgates that will allow us to be back to where we were and having taxes increased,” said Roach.
The Auburn senator has sponsored a resolution (SJR 8205) that, if passed by the Legislature and approved by voters on the next ballot, would codify a two-thirds requirement to raise taxes in the state’s constitution. SJR 8205 received a public hearing in the Senate Ways and Means committee Feb. 26 and was passed out of committee two days later on a 13 to 10 vote. Roach is joined by other Majority Coalition Caucus members on this proposal.
While the resolution has passed out of committee and may win Senate approval due to coalition caucus-control (23 Republicans and 2 Democrats) House leadership members Rep. Pat Sullivan (D-Covington) and Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Bellevue) have said it is unlikely that SJR 8205 would receive a hearing in the House.
Both legislators addressed concerns during a press conference Thursday that tax increases by a simple-majority-vote, which is required now under state law, does not encourage bipartisan compromise when it comes to tax issues. According to Hunter, the Legislature has passed bipartisan budget agreements the past two years, which included both revenue increases and expense reductions. Finding compromise in Washington is not a concern, he contended.
“This isn’t D.C. I mean, we talk to each other,” Hunter said.
Amber Carter of the Association of Washington Business stated, however, that the court ruling released Thursday tosses bipartisanship to the wayside and extinguishes any hope that voters might have certainty in the fiscal responsibility of their legislators.
The court’s decision Thursday and the push by select Democrats to rebuke the initiative caused some to question if representative democracy was negated.
“Why in the world would a Legislature that purports to represents its citizens continue to force those citizens to go out year after year after year to collect signatures, put an issue on a ballot and have the citizens vote on it, only to then have the Legislature slowly dismantle that mandate,” asked Sen. Don Benton (R-Vancouver).
In response, Gov. Jay Inslee said “The supermajority requirement gave a legislative minority the power to squelch ideas even when those ideas had majority support. That is inconsistent with our fundamental form of representative democracy.”
In anticipation that the court would throw out the supermajority requirement, House Minority Leader Rep. Richard DeBolt (R-Chehalis) said Republican representatives attempted to pass a rule change that would have required a two-thirds vote to advance tax and fee related bills to third reading. Following the third reading of a bill, it can advance to final consideration, at which point the legislation moves to the opposite chamber or, if the bill has already been heard in both chambers, travels back to its house of origin to be either passed to the governor or rejected). The amendment to rules failed 52-41 earlier this session.
“It serves their [Democrat’s] special interests more to raise taxes than it does to serve the concerns of the people of Washington state,” said DeBolt.
Several cited the importance of this ruling in the context of education funding and the looming 2018 mandate set out in the Washington Supreme Court case McCleary vs. State of Washington.
The court ruling Thursday “is a victory for my son…and the kids of Washington who are fighting to succeed in this state and in this world and we have been unable to provide for them the kind of education they deserve,” said Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma).
Jinkins argued that because the supermajority would have made it more difficult for lawmakers to raise taxes, the Legislature would not be able to sufficiently address its paramount duty to adequately fund K-12 education.
But some said that using the excuse of children is just a ploy to raise taxes to satisfy special interests.
“They sell the children all the time politically,” said DeBolt. “You’re destroying our kids’ future because you’re going to price us out of the market and businesses are going to leave our state to go to other places.”
Kylee Zabel is a reporter for the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association Olympia news bureau.
