Tim-Eyman-edit.jpg
The two-thirds majority rule has been approved in a series of initiatives pushed by activist Tim Eyman. Voters most recently approved the supermajority rule last November. (AP Photo/file)

WA Supreme Court strikes down two-thirds majority requirement to pass tax increase

BY Tim Haeck  on February 28, 2013 @ 9:09 am (Updated: 3:08 pm - 2/28/13 )

The Washington Supreme Court has struck down a requirement for a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature to pass a tax increase.

The high court ruled Thursday that an initiative requiring a two-thirds vote was in conflict with the state Constitution. And that lawmakers and the people of Washington would need to pass a constitutional amendment to change from a simple majority to a supermajority.

A coalition of lawmakers and education groups sued the state over the issue, and a King County judge decided last spring that the state constitution requires only a simple majority to pass tax proposals. The Supreme Court agreed to expedite its consideration.

The Washington Education Association was among the coalition. Spokesman Rich Wood calls the decision "a great victory for public education, giving the legislature another tool to fully fund public education."

Gov. Jay Inslee praised the ruling in a statement.

"The state Supreme Court did the right thing today in ruling that a supermajority requirement for ordinary legislation would alter our system of government. The supermajority requirement gave a legislative minority the power to squelch ideas even when those ideas had majority support. That is inconsistent with our fundamental form of representative democracy."

State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, said the court had opened the floodgates of taxation with its ruling. The chairwoman of the Senate Governmental Operations Committee has already proposed a constitutional amendment to make the two-thirds majority permanent.

"This is a seminal point in our history," she said, noting that the people in every county have already shown their support for a two-thirds tax rule.

To pass a constitutional amendment, the Legislature must approve the measure by a two-thirds majority and then it goes to the people for a simple majority vote.

The two-thirds majority rule has been approved in a series of initiatives pushed by activist Tim Eyman. Voters most recently approved the supermajority rule last November.

In a statement reacting to the court decision, Eyman wrote that the voters were more enthusiastic about his most recent tax initiative than they were about the new governor.

"Almost 2/3 of voters approved the 2/3-for-taxes vote requirement in November. That's 1.9 million voters. It passed in every county and received overwhelming support in every legislative district outside Seattle (44 of 49 districts)," said Eyman. "In light of today's ruling, all eyes now move to the Legislature and what they're going to do."

Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said he is open to discussion about enshrining more tax limits into the Constitution, perhaps a limit to the sales tax if lawmakers considered an income tax. But he and other Democrats opposed the idea of enshrining the two-thirds rule.

Democratic Sen. David Frockt said whatever decision lawmakers make on taxes, voters still have their say at the ballot through referendums and elections.

"We are accountable on those votes," Frockt said.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Susan Owens, states that under a commonsense understanding, any bill receiving a simple majority vote will become law. No language in the provision qualifies that requirement by stating a bill needs "at least a majority vote."

They wrote that without the simple majority rule in the Constitution, the people or the Legislature could require particular bills to receive 90 percent approval rather than just a two-thirds approval, thus essentially ensuring that those types of bills would never pass.

"Such a result is antithetical to the notion of a functioning government and should be rejected as such," the justices wrote.

Justice Charles Johnson, writes in a dissent, that "In its eagerness to embroil itself in the political arena, the majority abandons any semblance of judicial restraint to declare the process of legislative enactment constitutionally infirm."

Johnson wrote that voters have repeatedly voted for the supermajority provision, and that the court has repeatedly been asked to weigh in in past years and had previously "rejected the invitation to engage in this political dispute, exercising the wisdom, restraint, and temperance not to step outside the court's constitutional authority."

"Evidently something has changed, though the majority does not tell us what, to cause it to abandon these limiting principles and chart a new course for the court to more actively engage in the political process," he wrote. "This change is both unwise and unprecedented."

Justice Jim Johnson, writing in a separate dissent, wrote that the majority "ironically overrides our constitution and prior case law to enforce an invented policy concern: the fear that laws requiring a supermajority to raise taxes permit a "tyranny of the minority."

He said that with its decision, the majority "is imposing their policy preference over that of the 1,575,655 voters who passed Initiative 1053 (I-1053) and the millions who qualified and passed similar tax protections." "I regretfully observe that this court has become the tyrannous minority it purports to guard against," Johnson wrote.

The Associated Press' Rachel La Corte and Mike Baker contributed to this report.

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Critics blast Supreme Court tax rulling as political power play

Tim Haeck, KIRO Radio Reporter
Tim Haeck is a news reporter with KIRO Radio. While Tim is one of our go-to, no-nonsense reporters, he also has a sensationally dry sense of humor and it will surprise some to learn he is a weekend warrior.
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Comments (98)


  • Add A Comment

  • Wils20 wrote...
    ....
    February 28, 2013 8:19 am
    This is communism. Our freedoms are going away. I hope you democrats are happy, that you are ruining peoples lives.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • bigdogina4x4 wrote...
    THEY ARE HAPPY
    February 28, 2013 12:18 pm
    that they are able to squeeze every penny out of our hands, but htey see it as enriching our lives.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @wils20
    March 1, 2013 7:02 am
    So complying with the Constitution is Communism eh? Then Republicans and right wingers, gun owners and so on that demand that we follow the Constitution for thier particular causes must be super-Communists....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • The Real Me wrote...
    YES! TAX INCREASES!
    February 28, 2013 8:30 am
    Wow! Cool! Now we get to send more money into the government! I LOVE being a liberal lemming idiot. No thinking required. Just work for the state your whole life and then spend a few short years in poverty relying on ObamaCare until a Death Panel decides you aren't worth saving. YES! Please let me pay more!!!! Love it!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    Of course they did - P.ricks
    February 28, 2013 8:33 am
    The people can take their "will" and shove it up their a.sses as far as the goverment is concerned. Welcome to Amerika...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @Shark75...
    February 28, 2013 10:05 am
    "The people can take their "will" and shove it up their a.sses as far as the goverment is concerned. Welcome to Amerika..." ---- I guess that the Constitution is nothing more than a piece of toilet paper to you and the other whiners that can't have thier 2/3's majority vote then. It really makes me laugh how often the right wing claims and demands that the strictest view of the Constitution be used, that it is the overriding rule of law - and then when it's inconvienient, they launch into a diatribe about how they can't have their way because of 'dirty politicians/government/judges' who happen to follow the Constitution... I guess that in your mind the Constitution is only to be used as a tool to get your own way and if it's used against you - it's wrong. How freaking hypocritical and two faced.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Clearwater3 wrote...
    Hear, hear...
    February 28, 2013 11:08 am
    Very well put.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    @FakeSarge
    February 28, 2013 11:09 am
    You're a fool, and a useful idiot.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @shark75
    February 28, 2013 11:20 am
    So desiring that we as a society follow the rules (aka the Constitution) and pointing out those who -for thier own purposes- wish to violate these same rules (again - the Constitution) makes me a fool and a useful idiot eh? So advocating the opposite as you do, what does that make you?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • DonVigo wrote...
    Shark - What exactly do you consider yourself then?
    February 28, 2013 4:00 pm
    All you do is... I dunno... Insult. People, things, ideas, I never see a single post of yours that is remotely useful, constructive, well thought out, or bearing any other quality that would deem it relevent or neccesary. So, if Sarge here for making a good point is a "fool," and (I think this was a mistaken complement) a "useful idiot..." What exactly does that make you?!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • jstumbo wrote...
    Except that the constitution says nothing about needing...
    February 28, 2013 11:51 am
    a simple majority. It does not say what is needed. So the requirement for a 2/3 vote does not contradict any part of the constitution. The justices are reading into the constitution something that is not in the constitution. What about the levies? Don't they require 60% to pass? I guess that is now also unconstitutional?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @jstumbo
    February 28, 2013 3:04 pm
    Sorry - you're wrong. It says a majority. And there is ample documentation pf the discussions and arguements by the writers of the state constitution to know that what they intended was 'simple majority' and nothing more.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Realitycheck wrote...
    Former Marine disgrace
    February 28, 2013 5:19 pm
    You got us conservatives confused with your liberals. We go strictly by the constitution, the whole constitution, not just one small part that is good to make your case on. That is exactly what these moron judges did, they used one small part, totally out of context to justify their immoral ruling. Furthermore, if the majority doesn't get to decide what happens in this state/country anymore, I as part of the minority in the presidential election make a motion to remove Obama and put in Romney :). Let's see how quickly he will reverse his lunatic views...lol. Are all liberals complete and utter morons?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @realitycheck -- Who's the disgrace?
    March 1, 2013 7:05 am
    Gee Realitycheck... you like to call names, but you can't get the facts right on this one. The state CONSTITUTION requires a simple majority vote by the legislature, and any law that sets up a requirement above and beyond that is therefore unconstitutional - so how can you claim that people who support following the Constitution are the ones that are wrong? I'm no idiot - but the question is, are you?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Whit wrote...
    maybe....just maybe
    February 28, 2013 9:17 pm
    Our left leaning legislature will take into consideration what their constituents voted for, over and over, and propose a bill to change the constitution.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • monroemad wrote...
    Marxist Morons
    February 28, 2013 1:30 pm
    Have taken over. We need to read Orwell's book "1984" again....not so far fetched now.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @monroemad
    February 28, 2013 3:38 pm
    Orwell was a socialist ...just in case you didn't know.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • calapete wrote...
    Tim "never let the constitution get in the way of a profit" Eyman
    February 28, 2013 8:35 am
    loses again, but really, who loses? Again the State must defend itself against his shenanigans and who pays for it? We do.

    Tim got paid, the lawyers got paid and we foot the bill again.

    thanks, as usual, for nothing.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ratrustle wrote...
    This is not about Eyman.
    February 28, 2013 8:59 am
    And if you think that's true then close to 60% of the population of this State must be real stupid! I don't think any of us mind paying taxes for an efficiently run government. The problem is -- that's not what we're paying for and most of us are tired of taxes being raised every time the politicians see a need instead of living within their means. A little bit here and there has turned in to a huge burden on small business.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Clearwater3 wrote...
    Don't worry about Tim...
    February 28, 2013 11:11 am
    ...he'll land on his feet and begin his next round of fleecing idiots. He's doing alright for a fomer novelty watch salesman - keep your eye out for him to show up wanting to start a boy's marching band.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @Clearwater3
    February 28, 2013 3:39 pm
    You're right...Tim is VERY good at making a $$$$$$$$ living off the RWNJ's.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • beerlover1976 wrote...
    Just in time for tax increase season!!!
    February 28, 2013 8:40 am
    hurry up and get that constitutional amendment passes through the legislature so we can vote on it. with 2/3 of the voters passing the last initiative we shouldn't have a problem finding enough people to vote for an amendment. with a legislature and Governor and the rest of the democrats in olympia beating the drums to raise taxes, we will soon be swimming in new taxes passed through with and emergency clause as to keep us from our right to referendum.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • jstumbo wrote...
    You are joking, right?
    February 28, 2013 11:54 am
    You think the same group of guys that just sued to get this overturned are now going to pass an amendment with 2/3 passing vote so that the people can vote on it? No way the legislature ever passes such an amendment.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    We don't care what the people want,
    February 28, 2013 9:08 am
    We are the few, the proud, the liberals....and we will let you know how to keep kissing our buttocks.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • monroemad wrote...
    The State is Lying - What about the promises?
    February 28, 2013 9:49 am
    Remember when the state passed a lottery into law saying that it was for the children and schools will never have to ask for more money because all of those lottery proceeds will go to education? Our state government is crooked.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • hnuh wrote...
    02-28-2013...
    February 28, 2013 10:24 am
    At this pass, with the leftist "ascendancy", all we really need to do regarding State Supreme Court decisions is look, in our minds, at the pay checks those judges receive. In the left hand upper area of that check there should be the seal of the State of Washington. When conflict between the master, that is, the State, and the proletariat arises it should be obvious what decision the State Supreme Court will make.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @hnuh
    February 28, 2013 11:21 am
    So the fact that they require that a law comply with the Constitution is merely a distraction to you? Wow.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • jstumbo wrote...
    It does not contradict the constitution.
    February 28, 2013 11:56 am
    Even they said that the constitution says nothing about a simple majority, but that they decided to read that into the constitution.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Realitycheck wrote...
    Former Marine disgrace
    February 28, 2013 5:24 pm
    Quit lying or better yet get educated about the matter before spewing garbage about it.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @Realitycheck... Wrong again dude.
    March 1, 2013 7:08 am
    Dude, the constitution clearly states 'majority vote' and the well documentated meetings and discussions of the writers of the state constitution clearly show that what they meant was SIMPLE MAJORITY - therefore you are the entirely uniformed and foolish one spewing garbage. Go look it up dude, you'll find that in this case, I am the one with the facts, and you are the one that's wrong. AND I guess that when all you've got it your mouth and no facts, that you must be petty and call names. I pity you my friend, I pity you.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    POSER SRGT.
    February 28, 2013 10:29 am
    You are such a riot! You are one of the few, the mindless, the Left wing Parrots that are so cheering on what is being done to my nation by these Liberals and your Dear Leader Obama. Liberals that useful idiots like you vote for over and over again!

    You low information Left wing Parrots are going to make 2014 a Conservatives Americans dreams come true!

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • cigarfan wrote...
    @Lord Ha ha!
    February 28, 2013 3:41 pm
    "You low information Left wing Parrots are going to make 2014 a Conservatives Americans dreams come true! -Only if you live in the South.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • flipper wrote...
    Get ready folks...
    February 28, 2013 10:34 am
    ...here comes a state payroll tax...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }