Call for hearings on initiatives

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — Washington lawmakers may authorize public hearings here on all future citizen initiatives.

With "direct democracy" becoming an increasingly popular way of passing laws, some legislators are looking for ways to get out more information about the pros and cons of the proposals before people vote.

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, said Monday that more sweeping changes aren’t likely to pass this year.

Backers of the advance legislative review, including local governments, said recent initiatives had a major impact on state revenues and the state budget — and that voters need to understand the potential impact so they can cast informed ballots.

Advocates of the initiative process, though, say it’s unnecessary at best and a backdoor attempt to undermine the system at worst.

"My message to the Legislature is, ‘You keep your dirty, grubby hands off the free speech of the people of Washington,’ " said Tim Eyman, the Mukilteo small business owner who has placed several successful initiatives on the ballot in recent years.

The Senate State and Local Government Committee took testimony Monday on the proposal by Sen. Jeri Costa, D-Marysville, to authorize the Legislature to schedule hearings on all measures that win a place on the ballot.

"This is a pre-election preview and it should not have an influence on the election," Costa told the panel.

Her measure, Senate Bill 5833, said House and Senate committees with customary jurisdiction over the initiative’s subject matter would be allowed, but not required, to conduct hearings. The panel would be expected to have "a balanced exposition of viewpoints."

The legislation said such hearings wouldn’t violate state elections and ethics laws against use of public facilities and taxes to influence an election. Committee staff said the bill would free legislators to give their views on the proposals.

Costa said the key value of hearings is that voters would get useful information on how the initiative would fit with existing law and how it would affect the budget.

No one on the panel spoke against the proposal, which cleared committee last year but died in the Rules Committee. Spokesmen for cities and for local government employees said recent initiatives, including rollback of the car-tab tax and limiting property taxes, took a huge bite out of their budgets and that it’s possible voters didn’t have the full picture.

Cherie Davidson of the League of Women Voters provided the only opposition at the hearing. The league fears the legislation "would infringe on the people’s independence to propose legislation. It would make the Legislature an influential player in the people’s initiative process."

Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, said he plans to propose an alternative that would authorize the secretary of state to hold advance hearings on all ballot measures.

Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, who drew flak for calling a Senate hearing on an anti-affirmative action initiative a few years ago, endorsed Costa’s bill, but warned colleagues not to attack the process itself.

"The initiative is at the core of the populist nature of this state," she said in an interview. "It is one of my major responsibilities to make sure people have direct access to the legislative process."

Eyman said the bill is "an effort to start gutting the initiative process without actually saying so. They’re always wondering ‘How can we make the process any more unwieldy?’

"It is transparently clear to everyone but them: They want to get rid of the process. They try to whittle it a little bit at a time, regulate it to death."

Initiative sponsors already have "phenomenally high hurdles to pass," especially the requirement to collect 200,000 valid signatures and get voter approval, Eyman said in an interview.

He said hearings would be "one more hoop to jump through … requiring us to come down to Olympia to kiss their ring and beg for forgiveness for putting this on the ballot."

The Legislature is considering other changes, including a plan to bump the filing fee, now $5, to $100. Other lawmakers have talked about requiring geographic distribution of signatures, fiscal impact statements, and requiring fiscal matters to first go to the Legislature.

Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, said he supports Costa’s bill.

Chopp told reporters he doesn’t expect any major changes to pass this session, given the touchy nature of the issue and the requirement for some changes to get a two-thirds vote in both houses.

Eyman said he’s ready if lawmakers try.

"We will make a big royal stink, no matter what the proposal is," he said.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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