Published: Sunday, September 5, 2010
TAKING SIDES / INITIATIVE 1053
No: Vote to uphold our state Constitution
When Washington's founding fathers drew up the document that we know today as our state Constitution, they took great care in assembling a democratic system of government that would stand the test of time. The system of government they gave us rests upon two important principles that prevent our democracy from being corrupted into a dictatorship: Majority rule with minority rights.
Democracy requires that decisions be based on majority rule. (A majority is equivalent to fifty percent plus one: no more, no less.) At the same time, minority rights are protected through our Constitution, which cannot be changed except by constitutional amendment.
Our Constitution has served us well for over a century, but it is now under attack by Tim Eyman's Initiative 1053, which seeks to unconstitutionally alter the provision that requires the Legislature to operate democratically. That provision -- Article II, Section 22 -- declares the standard for passage of all legislation to be a majority vote.
It is as follows: "No bill shall become a law unless on its final passage the vote be taken by yeas and nays, the names of the members voting for and against the same be entered on the journal of each house, and a majority of the members elected to each house be recorded thereon as voting in its favor."
I-1053 blatantly violates Article II, Section 22 by insisting that any legislation which proposes an increase in revenue is void unless two-thirds of each house of the Legislature agrees. Under I-1053, one third of lawmakers in just one house could block a revenue-raising bill, even if a "supermajority" in the other house has given its assent.
Tim Eyman says the intent of I-1053 is to make it "tougher to raise taxes." But his real aim is to effectively make it impossible to raise taxes, which would lead to the painful evisceration of our most vital public services, including our schools, roads, parks and social safety net.
I-1053 thus also appears to violate the spirit (if not the letter) of Article VII, Section 1, which states in part: "The power of taxation shall never be suspended, surrendered or contracted away."
I-1053's proponents try to legitimize their scheme by arguing it reinstates the will of the people, but this is disingenuous. The Legislature set aside I-1053's predecessors, I-601 and I-960, out of respect for the Constitution.
If an initiative can nullify a provision of the supreme law of our land, then that document -- which guarantees to us our freedoms -- has no meaning.
An initiative abridging free speech might be popular, but if it prohibited a widely disliked group of people from exercising their rights, but it would be undemocratic regardless. Democracy cannot be used to abolish democracy.
The only reason I-1053 is on our ballots because BP (yes, that BP) Tesoro, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, USBank, and several dozen other corporations collectively poured more than half a million dollars into the measure's signature drive, enabling Eyman to buy his way onto the ballot. (See a longer list at www.stopgreed.org)
The aforementioned corporations will use I-1053 to block the democratic repeal of unnecessary, outdated tax exemptions and loopholes that benefit them but deprive our treasury of badly needed revenue.
Under I-1053, all a corporate lobbyist has to do to preserve a special tax break is convince 17 out of Washington's one 147 lawmakers to side with them!
California's experience has painfully illustrated how unsound I-1053 is. Many years ago, voters there made the mistake of adopting a scheme similar to 1053 right into their Constitution. That and a similar provision requiring two-thirds votes for the passage of budgets has resulted in endless partisan gridlock in Sacramento and wreaked havoc on the Golden State's quality of life. California is in debt and widely considered to be ungovernable. The bickering, squabbling and chronic underfunding of public services has also seriously damaged the state's business climate, which in turn has prompted families and entrepreneurs to leave. That's not the future we want for our state.
This autumn, please join with AARP Washington, the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters, the Washington Association of Churches, and many others in upholding our Constitution and voting NO on Tim Eyman's I-1053.
Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute. Learn more about I-1053's consequences by visiting www.no1053.org.
Democracy requires that decisions be based on majority rule. (A majority is equivalent to fifty percent plus one: no more, no less.) At the same time, minority rights are protected through our Constitution, which cannot be changed except by constitutional amendment.
Our Constitution has served us well for over a century, but it is now under attack by Tim Eyman's Initiative 1053, which seeks to unconstitutionally alter the provision that requires the Legislature to operate democratically. That provision -- Article II, Section 22 -- declares the standard for passage of all legislation to be a majority vote.
It is as follows: "No bill shall become a law unless on its final passage the vote be taken by yeas and nays, the names of the members voting for and against the same be entered on the journal of each house, and a majority of the members elected to each house be recorded thereon as voting in its favor."
I-1053 blatantly violates Article II, Section 22 by insisting that any legislation which proposes an increase in revenue is void unless two-thirds of each house of the Legislature agrees. Under I-1053, one third of lawmakers in just one house could block a revenue-raising bill, even if a "supermajority" in the other house has given its assent.
Tim Eyman says the intent of I-1053 is to make it "tougher to raise taxes." But his real aim is to effectively make it impossible to raise taxes, which would lead to the painful evisceration of our most vital public services, including our schools, roads, parks and social safety net.
I-1053 thus also appears to violate the spirit (if not the letter) of Article VII, Section 1, which states in part: "The power of taxation shall never be suspended, surrendered or contracted away."
I-1053's proponents try to legitimize their scheme by arguing it reinstates the will of the people, but this is disingenuous. The Legislature set aside I-1053's predecessors, I-601 and I-960, out of respect for the Constitution.
If an initiative can nullify a provision of the supreme law of our land, then that document -- which guarantees to us our freedoms -- has no meaning.
An initiative abridging free speech might be popular, but if it prohibited a widely disliked group of people from exercising their rights, but it would be undemocratic regardless. Democracy cannot be used to abolish democracy.
The only reason I-1053 is on our ballots because BP (yes, that BP) Tesoro, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, USBank, and several dozen other corporations collectively poured more than half a million dollars into the measure's signature drive, enabling Eyman to buy his way onto the ballot. (See a longer list at www.stopgreed.org)
The aforementioned corporations will use I-1053 to block the democratic repeal of unnecessary, outdated tax exemptions and loopholes that benefit them but deprive our treasury of badly needed revenue.
Under I-1053, all a corporate lobbyist has to do to preserve a special tax break is convince 17 out of Washington's one 147 lawmakers to side with them!
California's experience has painfully illustrated how unsound I-1053 is. Many years ago, voters there made the mistake of adopting a scheme similar to 1053 right into their Constitution. That and a similar provision requiring two-thirds votes for the passage of budgets has resulted in endless partisan gridlock in Sacramento and wreaked havoc on the Golden State's quality of life. California is in debt and widely considered to be ungovernable. The bickering, squabbling and chronic underfunding of public services has also seriously damaged the state's business climate, which in turn has prompted families and entrepreneurs to leave. That's not the future we want for our state.
This autumn, please join with AARP Washington, the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters, the Washington Association of Churches, and many others in upholding our Constitution and voting NO on Tim Eyman's I-1053.
Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute. Learn more about I-1053's consequences by visiting www.no1053.org.
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