At the start of the current legislative session, the Senate Majority Coalition took a major step in honoring the wishes of the state’s voters.
While the state’s Supreme Court ruled against a voter-approved initiative requiring a two-thirds vote on all tax increases, Republican senators and one Democrat voted to enact the rule on a smaller stage in the state Senate.
Unfortunately, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen decided to venture into the judicial realm by ruling that the coalition’s move was unconstitutional on Monday.
According to The Associated Press, Owen said he does not rule on constitutional issues, but said “that reluctance does not apply when the body steps outside the limitations established by the constitution or Supreme Court, either through the adoption of rules or consideration of other legislation in a manner or form that allows the Senate itself to act unconstitutionally.”
It was another sidestep to escape the will of the voters, one that has been rejected again and again by Democrats and the state Supreme Court.
“The intent of what we did when we made that rule was to make new taxes a last resort,” state Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, said. “And I think this body moves better when new taxes are a last resort.”
Then again, other action in the state Senate Monday makes the move a bit of a moot point.
A mix of Democrats and Republicans joined to pass a massive $15 billion revenue package that includes 11.7-cent gasoline tax increase over the next three years.
It’s disappointing to see the coalition sending such a mixed message to voters.
On the one hand, Republicans claimed to be attempting to honor the wishes of the voters, only to pass a large tax increase.
They did so without the two-thirds requirement they had initiated.
All of our local senators — John Braun, Brian Hatfield and Tim Sheldon — took part in approving the package.
Their reasons for doing so vary.
Braun and Hatfield each noted that the proposal included $79 million for flood projects in Lewis County over the next six years.
Likewise, reforms to Washington State Department of Transportation’s funding model helped make the tax increase more palatable to fiscal conservatives in the Legislature.
Still, it will be difficult for many voters to understand and accept the reasoning.
Voters will ultimately decide at the polls how displeased they are with the shift in policy from elected representatives who have been outspoken over their opposition to new taxes.
