Initiative-imposed tax restriction lifted

PATRICK CONDON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Wednesday, March 13, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Gary Locke plans to sign a bill this morning that will allow Democrats in the Legislature to raise taxes with a simple 50 percent majority.

It could be the last major step needed for the House of Representatives and the Senate to agree on a plan for filling the state's $1.6 billion budget shortfall.

"The governor will take action on the bill first thing tomorrow," Locke spokesman Pearse Edwards said Tuesday, after the House voted to temporarily suspend the requirement that all tax increases and transfers out of the state's emergency reserve must have the support of two-thirds of the Legislature.

With slim majorities in both the House and Senate, Democrats need the change if they are to enact, without Republican votes, a budget proposal that relies both on new tax revenue and cash from reserves. The two-thirds requirement came into place with Initiative 601 in 1993, and Republicans call the Democrats' decision the "final gutting of 601."

The Senate already passed the bill. As negotiations went down to the wire, a proposal emerged for a tax on state liquor sales as a source of revenue.

Transportation

Hoping to avert a special session, negotiators on the session's other paramount issue -- transportation -- also drew closer to final agreement, reaching accord on a regional package that will allow Central Puget Sound counties to raise taxes independently for their own road projects.

Democrats continued to pledge that the tax increases would be targeted and not across the board. They argued that new revenue sources are needed to fill the budget shortfall.

"We certainly are in an emergency situation," said Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, the House budget chief. "We are facing a set of circumstances that no one could have predicted."

Under the legislation, the I-601 limits will go back into place next year.

Still, House Republicans denounced the Democrats' move as a slap against voter opposition to higher taxes.

"I think the reason we had this law ... is that voters thought it was too easy to raise taxes," said Rep. Dave Mastin, R-Walla Walla. "That the Legislature should be forced to make tough decisions when it comes to control the growth of government."

Election issue

Even as they criticized the Democratic move, it was clear that many Republicans savored the prospect of tax increases as ammunition for the November elections.

"Thanks for signing our election certificates," Rep. Roger Bush, R-Spanaway, said to a Democratic colleague after the vote.

Democrats struck back as harshly, saying that the events of Sept. 11 plunged the state into an economic morass that requires an extraordinary response. Economists calculate that about half of the budget shortfall is directly attributable to the blow from Sept. 11.

"This measure is temporary. This measure is necessary," said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam. "Unless we want to annihilate health care for our seniors, education for our children, this measure is necessary."

Democrats even quoted a speech by President Bush, when he told the American people that the terrorists who attacked on Sept. 11 "attacked our economy."

"We are in a time of national crisis," said Rep. Mark Doumit, D-Cathlamet. "We're in the worst recession in the state since the Depression."

Republicans insisted that they were throwing up red flags about the state's budget situation well before Sept. 11, saying that the budget written last spring by Democrats was not sustainable.

"Please stop blaming this on Sept. 11," said House Minority Leader Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee. "It's just not so."

The final vote was 50-46, straight along party lines with two Republicans absent.

On the Web:

Bill information

On the Web:

- Washington State Legislature

- Washington State Treasurer

- Gov. Gary Locke

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