April 29th, 2003

Attorney General Assigns Initiative 853 Ballot Title

The campaign to get the Taxpayers Fiscal Reform Act passed moves forward.

Contact: Steve Zemke

206-999-6095

stevezemke (at) msn (dot) com

Below is the official ballot title assigned by the Attorney General's office to Initiative 853.

Ballot Title

Initiative Measure No. 853 concerns revising laws concerning state fiscal matters. This measure would revise the way the state expenditure limit is calculated, require adoption of biennial budget goals and priorities, provide for periodic citizen reviews of tax exemptions, and eliminate legislative supermajority requirements.

Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes[ ] No[ ]

Ballot Measure Summary

This measure would amend the fiscal management laws in several ways, including: basing the state expenditure limit on growth of personal income; applying the limit to all allotted state funds; allowing revenue increases by legislative majority vote; requiring the legislature to adopt budget goals and priorities every two years; establishing a citizens commission to periodically review tax exemptions and recommend changes; requiring publication of budget information in the voters pamphlet and on the state’s website.

Washington state takes a step backwards. The current budget battle shows why fiscal reform is needed more than ever. The legislature is unable to approve an operating buget for the next two years and is going to hold a special session. What is disappointing is that all the attention has been focused on cuting state programs. Long term fiscal reform like House bill 1869 to require performance audits of tax preferences (a business favored term for special interest tax exemptions) passed the House but has seemingly died in the Senate. And rather than consider for repeal any obvious outdated tax exemptions that don't make sense any more, Republicans in the legislature are pushing for new tax exemptions. I guess they support the little tax break that people who buy gold and silver have that exempts them from sales tax as more important to the state than reducing classroom size or keeping state college tuition affordable.

Initiative 853 would require a review of all tax exemptions. It would allow them to be repealed if they were not in the state's interest, unlike Eyman's Initiative 807 which wants to impose a 2/3 legislative vote or a vote of the people to repeal any tax break.

Initiative 853 requires that the state prioritize its spending, again a real reform rather that late night legislative backroom deals deciding in favor of someone's special project but that's not a high state priority.

Initiative 853 requires that the legislature vote by the majority rules laid out in the State Constitution, unlike Eyman's attempts to impose 2/3 voting requirements by a majority vote.

Subsequent Note: A decision was made not to print up Initiative 853 and collect signatures at this time. The war in Iraq and the state budget shortfall and the short time until July 3rd were factors in this decision. In July a decision will be made about re-filing I-853 as an initiative to the legislature.

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