Legal wrangling ended in the state’s high court Friday over the four initiatives that Washington voters will decide this November.
Washington’s Supreme Court ruled that information about how three of them could affect the state budget will appear alongside the measures on the ballot.
In a two-page ruling, justices affirmed a lower court’s decision to deny an effort by Republican Party leaders to nix those “public investment impact disclosures.”
Also Friday, justices rebuffed a bid by an alliance of unions and progressive groups to force the secretary of state to redo its certification of the measures by reconfirming that the hundreds of thousands of people who signed petitions were legal voters.
The court rejected two related challenges that could have kept citizen initiatives off the ballot to repeal the state’s capital gains tax, end its cap-and-trade program, make participation in a state-run, long-term care program optional and bar restrictions on natural gas in new construction.
Defend Washington and Washington Conservation Action Education Fund, which filed the suits, oppose all four measures.
In each case, the court issued a two-page order and said an opinion fully explaining its decision would be issued at a later date.
A 2022 law requires disclosure statements of 15 words or less be placed on ballots if a measure repeals, levies or modifies a tax or fee, and if it would cause a net change in state revenue.
State attorneys crafted this wording for the three measures focused on the cap-and-trade law, the capital gains tax and the long-term care program.
State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh and Mainstream Republicans of Washington Chair Deanna Martinez, who refer to the statements as “warning labels,” sued in June to block their publication, arguing the measures don’t fit the law’s criteria.
A Thurston County Superior Court judge rejected their arguments. Walsh and Martinez petitioned the state Supreme Court to take the case up directly because the secretary of state’s office had said it needed to know by Aug. 23 if those statements would be on ballots.
“This is a major win for the voters of Washington State,” said Aaron Ostrom, executive director of Fuse Washington, a statewide progressive political organization. “When voters have information about the destructive impacts of their initiatives they go down in flames.”
Certification questions
Defend Washington launched its suit early this year against the same three initiatives, which Walsh authored. Let’s Go Washington conducted the signature-gathering for the three largely funded with money from its founder, Brian Heywood.
Attorneys for Defend Washington contended the process followed by the secretary of state failed to determine each signer was a legal voter at the time they signed the petition. The suit also argued the state failed to verify the residence address listed by a petitioner’s signature matched the one on their voter registration card. The group wanted the court to require a do-over of certification.
In April, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Allyson Zipp acknowledged the suit raised a number of questions about the process “that gave the court pause.” But she dismissed it nonetheless.
“This court concludes that neither the Washington Constitution nor Washington statutes mandate the process that plaintiffs assert is required,” she wrote. She also said their approach “would disenfranchise potential signers” who would be fully able to cast ballots if the measure they signed reached the ballot.
The suit filed by Washington Conservation Action Education Fund challenged the certification of signatures for Initiative 2066 concerning restrictions on natural gas. That measure qualified last month.
In a statement, Defend Washington called the decision “disappointing.”
“While we continue to have concerns, we accept the court’s decision today that the Secretary of State’s processes conform to current Washington law,” the statement reads. “Still, we urge elected leaders in Olympia to consider the issues we brought to light in our suit, and revise validation procedures accordingly.”
Greg Lane, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, blasted the legal attempt to derail Initiative 2066, which the association is the chief sponsor.
“These frivolous attempts to keep the voters from having a voice when it comes to energy choice are undemocratic and nothing short of voter suppression,” he said in a statement. “We’re pleased that the over half a million people who signed our petition to stop gas bans in Washington will have the opportunity to vote on this in November.”
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