Published February 16, 2010
I-960 kills off public financing for judicial races
That's the gist of it. The explanation is a bit longer.The state Senate geared up to vote today on Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5912, which proposes a pilot program for funding state Supreme Court races. The bill would let public funds be given to qualifying candidates whose campaigns agreed to limit spending and also met a test for viability.But after Democratic Sen. Eric Oemig first spoke in favor and Republican Sen. Jerome Delvin spoke against it, Republican Sen. Don Benton of Vancouver raised a point of order: Is the $3 filing fee on court documents, which was proposed to raise funds for the program, a tax or a fee? Benton wanted to know.If it was a fee, a simple-majority vote of 25 senators could pass it. If it was a tax, a two-thirds majority or 33 votes was needed — an amount Democrats could not muster — under Tim Eyman’s Initiative 960, which Benton had helped draft and pass in 2007.Benton and other Republicans contended that under I-960 and past rulings by the Senate’s presiding officer, the fee was general enough to be considered a tax, because its purpose was not directly tied to the activities it was based upon. But Democratic Sen. Tracey Eide of Federal Way contended the $3 fee was dedicated to the purpose of judicial elections free from the taint of money, which benefits courts, and therefore didn't meet the test for a tax.In the end Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a Democrat who presides over the Senate, ruled the bill imposes a tax and needs a two-thirds vote. That killed the bill for this year at the 5 p.m. deadline for bills. In the House, Rep. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, had a similar bill that died in committee and he was pinning hope on the Senate to move the state closer to passage of a bill in time for the 2012 elections cycle.Benton put out a victory statement:
“This bill is an outgrowth of a vigorous campaign two years ago to unseat an incumbent justice,” Benton said. “The opposing candidate did not win, but he obviously hit a nerve. This bill would use fees citizens are required to pay to support judicial campaigns for the Washington State Supreme Court. I challenged the new surcharge because it is not connected to the purpose for which the fees were designed – to cover filing costs. Therefore, the surcharge qualified as a new tax under I-960. Lieutenant Governor Owen ruled in my favor.
“Since the majority Democrat’s bill to suspend the two-thirds vote requirement under Initiative 960 is still pending, they didn’t have the votes to pass Senate Bill 5912 today before the 5:00 p.m. deadline for the Senate to act on its own bills.”
Washington Public Campaigns favors public financing for judicial, state and local campaigns. SB 5912 is the first step toward that and was designed as a pilot.The idea of public financing of judicial races gained in popularity after the 2006 state Supreme Court races, and Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed such a bill a couple of years sago. In 2006, builders and their allies on one side and trial lawyers, tribes, labor and environmentalists on the other spent a few million dollars in the Supreme Court races.