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Home / Washington Business - September/October 2006 / Points of View: Chamber says no to I-933 |
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Points of View: Chamber says no to I-933 |
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Written On: September/October 2006 |
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Written By: by Steve Leahy |
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Steve Leahy is the president and CEO of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 2,500 member companies in the Puget Sound region. Leahy serves on the boards of the Association of Washington Business, the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, Leadership Tomorrow, enterpriseSeattle, the United Way of King County, the Urban Enterprise Center and the Washington Chamber of Commerce Executives Association.
In June, the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce Board of Trustees voted overwhelmingly to oppose Initiative 933. The board decided to take this action because I-933 is a far-reaching, poorly drafted measure that would have a significant impact on the Puget Sound region.
We believe our region’s future economic health and the well-being of our communities is dependent upon a balance of government regulation and private property rights. We believe that addressing questions of regulatory fairness in our state, particularly through aggressive regulatory reform at the state and local level on issues such as the Critical Areas Ordinance and the Shoreline Updates, should be a priority. However, I-933 is not the right mechanism.
I-933 creates uncertainty and risk for businesses and the economy, and could cost taxpayers millions of dollars that might otherwise be invested in infrastructure and services to improve Washington’s business climate.
I-933 also risks haphazard development patterns which lead to negative impacts on the quality of life and the business climate in Washington. By exempting certain property owners from land use, zoning, and environmental regulations, I-933 endangers protections and predictable development patterns that are essential for businesses.
High cost with no funding
While there is a strong need for regulatory restraint in state and in local jurisdictions, I-933 goes too far. It requires that, in order to enforce basic laws that allow businesses stability, tax dollars would have to be paid out to certain property owners. It also allows certain property owners to be exempted from the law. This initiative would create significant uncertainty because many zoning laws would be waivable or selectively applied.
Even before local jurisdictions decide whether taxpayers must pay off certain landowners, there are high costs in processing these claims. Oregon will spend an estimated $350 million annually just to administer Measure 37, a similar but less extreme version of I-933 passed in 2004.
There is no funding mechanism to pay for claims or processing costs in I-933.
Expensive legal mess
While the I-933 may appear to exempt a number of regulations, they are drafted narrowly and would likely only apply in limited situations. Similarly, the date of retroactivity of this initiative (January 1, 1996) is listed in only two places and leads many in the legal community to question whether it would allow claims going back much further.
I-933 applies to damage on both real and personal property, which are broadly defined, and could have harmful and costly legal consequences. This single flaw could gridlock our court system with property damage disputes for the next decade.
Negative business climate
Businesses succeed through predictability. By knowing the future, to the degree possible, we can plan on where to make investments, where to cut resources, and where to pursue opportunities. I-933 would make reasonable prediction in the marketplace impossible. Property appraisals will become difficult as local laws become waivable for some. Time spent waiting for permits will increase as permitting agencies struggle to process claims. The only thing certain to result from I-933 would be lawsuits from all sides.
The loopholes created by I-933 for unplanned and poorly planned development with substantially higher negative impacts — such as traffic, pollution, school overcrowding, and inefficient use of infrastructure — will harm the quality of life that makes Washington the place we want to do business. One of the hidden consequences of I-933 would be an increase in traffic, especially on the edges of cities and suburbs, as haphazard development occurs without the necessary infrastructure.
I-933 would make land use regulation unpredictable and unfair to all property owners, and it would inflict negative consequences on our communities and our state, including the businesses that reside here.
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