Print  email 

Initiatives and referenda on the agenda

Our views

• Published February 04, 2007

• Comments (0)

The much-loved but much-maligned initiative process is under assault in the state Legislature. Lawmakers are considering bills that would:

• Revoke the people's right to initiative and referendum.

•Increase the initiative filing fee.

• Require signature collectors to sign an anti-fraud declaration.

• Mandate that signature collectors be paid by the hour, not per signature.

• Require signature collectors to wear badges.

Some of the proposals make sense. Others should be rejected outright. Our view:

• Senate Joint Resolution 8205 ends the initiative and referendum process. It's a terrible proposal.

The state of Washington adopted the initiative and referendum process in 1912. Through initiative, the public can write a law, and through the referendum process, voters can veto a law passed by the Legislature. Creating laws and rejecting others is a cherished right, used repeatedly over the years as the people's check against legislative abuses. Voters' rights must not be abridged. SJR 8205 should be rejected outright.

• Senate Bill 5392 would increase the initiative filing fee from $5 to $100. Today's $5 rate is the same that it was in 1912. The bill will get rid of frivolous initiatives because those initiative campaigns that qualify for the ballot get the $100 fee refunded. Lawmakers should pass SB 5392.

• Senate Bill 5182 is more complex. To qualify for the ballot, an initiative petition must contain signatures equal to 8 percent of the votes cast for the office of governor in the last election. Under that rule, an initiative today must have 224,880 valid signatures of registered voters.

In 2005, the Legislature added another r equirement. It passed a bill requiring a declaration be printed on the reverse side of every initiative and referendum petitions affirming that, to the best of the signature gatherer's knowledge, the pe ople who signed the petition did so knowingly and without compensation or promise. With his or her signature, the collector acknowledges that forgery of signatures is a felony.