OLYMPIA — Political leaders in Olympia are considering an overhaul of the state’s popular initiative system, saying Thursday that voters need to be responsible for identifying the money that will pay for the policies they approve.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed a constitutional amendment that would require ballot measures to have their own funding sources. The Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire have expressed frustration with voter-approved laws that require hundreds of millions of dollars in spending, with no way to pay the bill.
“People don’t realize the consequences,” Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt said.
Just last month, the public gave overwhelming approval to an expansion of training for long-term care workers, despite opposition from a variety of leaders including Gregoire and Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna. The measure, which passed in every county in the state, costs about $18 million over the next two years but has no money allocated for the program.
Initiative 1163 passed amid a $1.4 billion shortfall. To deal with the state’s budget, Gregoire is proposing a shortened school year, the early release of prisoners and the elimination of some social services programs.
She also wants voters to approve a temporary sales tax increase.
Gregoire said she would probably support such a constitutional amendment, saying the public needs to be as responsible for finding the money as the Legislature would be. She noted that she inherited initiatives with policy ideas that she supported — for example, Initiative 732 approved a decade ago requires annual cost-of-living adjustments for education workers — but had no way to pay for them.
“The Legislature can’t tell us to do something without funding,” Gregoire said. “When the people act on an initiative, they are the Legislature. They accept the same responsibility that the Legislature does.”
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