The ruling did not come as a surprise. Even Tim Eyman, the creator of Initiative 1366, had acknowledged that it might not pass muster in the courts, so Thursday’s unanimous state Supreme Court decision voiding the measure was predictable.
But while the courts once again have overturned a two-thirds majority requirement for raising taxes, it is time for the Legislature to follow the will of the people. Six times voters have expressed support for a higher threshold on tax matters, and six times that support has been knocked down by either lawmakers or the courts. While strong arguments can be made for or against requiring a two-thirds vote in the Legislature when it comes to taxes, such a requirement clearly is desired by the public.
Initiative 1366 presented a new twist on the issue. Rather than using a ballot measure to try and amend the state constitution, an approach that has been overturned in the past, Eyman devised a novel tactic. Lawmakers were given one of two options: Place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that could entrench the two-thirds requirement; or see the state’s sales tax rate drop by 1 percentage point. A total of 51.5 percent of statewide voters (57 percent in Clark County) agreed with that approach, painting the Legislature into a corner.
The item was largely ignored during this year’s legislative session as the issue played out in the courts. Thursday, justices said the measure violated the state constitution’s requirement that initiatives be limited to a single subject. “Based on the plain language of the initiative, we hold that I-1366 requires the Legislature to choose between two operative provisions,” read the opinion, authored by Chief Justice Barbara Madsen. “This does not constitute valid contingent legislation.” Three justices, in a concurrent opinion, also wrote that the initiative violated the constitution by essentially proposing an amendment by initiative, which is not allowed in Washington.