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Initiatives And Referendums Are Here To Stay |
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Written On: November 14, 2003 |
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Written By: Don Brunell |
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The passage of Initiative 841, repealing the state’s ergonomics rules, has renewed calls to eliminate initiatives. We heard the same complaints last year after voters approved Referendum 53, repealing the legislative changes to the unemployment insurance statutes.
Whether we like initiatives or referendums, they are part of the political heritage of the Old West. For example, in 1889 when Washington became a state, voters decided by referendum that Olympia would be the state capitol instead of Yakima or Ellensburg.
They are most prevalent in the far west. Some would rightly argue that Oregon and California’s initiative and referendum process is more susceptible to abuse than ours. For example, in Oregon, the process is more complicated and it requires fewer signatures to qualify measures for the ballot. In California, experts questioned the referendum process that led to the recall of Gov. Gray Davis less than a year after his re-election.
Employers and farmers have been on both ends of the stick. For example, while they celebrate this year’s repeal of the ergonomics rule, they are still struggling with the consequences of the 1998 initiative that automatically increases our state’s minimum wage. It is vice versa for the unions.
Educators were ecstatic when Initiatives 728 and 732 passed requiring the legislature to spend more tax dollars to reduce classroom sizes and give teachers automatic salary increases. But those same educators were disgruntled when Tim Eyman’s property tax limits passed--a primary local funding source for school districts.
The battles over initiatives and referendums are heated and quite bitter. That’s not new. For example in 1925, Pierce County legislator Homer T. Bone pushed a referendum allowing public utilities like Tacoma City Light to sell electricity outside the city limits. Then House Speaker Mark Reed of Shelton, a private power proponent, filed a referendum taxing those sales. After an emotion-charged battle, both measures were rejected by the voters.
You get the picture? There are winners and losers and emotions run high. Many opponents argue that initiatives and referendums undermine our representative form of government in which governors and legislators are elected to make law.
That might be true to some extent, but like them or not, they are here to stay. If they are part of our political fabric, are there ways to make the initiative and referendum process more compatible with representative government?
Without getting into the issue of paid verses volunteer signature gathers, here are a couple of suggestions:
First, lower the number of signatures for initiatives to the legislature. That would give the legislature an opportunity to either pass the initiative or develop an alternative to place on the ballot with it. The penalty for inaction by the legislature is the initiative would automatically go to the ballot unless lawmakers act.
Second, require that any initiative calling for increases in spending be accompanied by the revenue source to pay for it. Likewise, if a ballot measure calls for lowering taxes, such as car tabs, voters ought to tell lawmakers what general categories to cut.
If these ideas were adopted, it would provide our elected officials with more direction and hold them more accountable for their actions in Olympia.
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