Affirmative action opponents seek to force popular vote

Opponents of Washington’s affirmative action initiative have filed a referendum to force a popular vote on the measure, the day after it passed the state Legislature.

Opponents will have 90 days to gather 129,811 valid signatures. If they can, it will override the legislative approval and force the initiative to a popular vote this November.

The affirmative action measure, Initiative 1000, is set to allow state agencies and schools to consider factors like race in hiring, and engage in targeted outreach and recruitment. Technically an initiative to the Legislature, lawmakers were able to approve it themselves without sending it to a vote. It passed the House and Senate late Sunday night, the final night of the 105-day legislative session.

Affirmative action has been illegal in Washington since a 1998 initiative overturned an earlier version of the policy.

The measure passed the Senate on a 26-22 vote Sunday night after the House passed it 56-42.

The measure exposed deep divides, with advocates characterizing the under-representation of minorities in schools and state jobs as the ripple effect of historic discrimination, even as opponents charged that explicit inclusion goals for individual groups would amount to unfair exclusion of others.

Freshman Sen. Joe Nguyen, a Democrat from White Center who noted he was the son of refugees, said the bill leveled the playing field for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

"We want to be able to be successful, just like anybody else," Nguyen said. His own position as a state legislator, Nguyen added, wasn't only a factor of his own effort.

"It didn't just take hard work, it took opportunity as well," he said.

Critics of the measure, however, challenged the distinction between a hiring or recruitment goal and a quota. They said it would be impossible for such efforts to avoid prioritizing some groups over others.

"This initiative divides us," said Rep. Brandon Vick, a Vancouver Republican who spoke against the measure ahead of the House vote. "With this change, we're saying that race matters more than merit. This is diversity through discrimination, plain and simple."