2005 STEWARDSHIP PROJECT

July 14, 2005

Supreme Court strikes blow to people's right of referendum
Court ruling allows continued legislative abuse of emergency clause

OLYMPIA—Groups representing taxpayers today were dismayed by the Washington State Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the emergency clause which allowed the Legislature’s suspension of a provision requiring a super-majority vote to raise taxes.

The case before the Supreme Court was brought by the Washington Farm Bureau, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Washington State Grange, the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), the Washington Association of REALTORS and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in response to Secretary of State Sam Reed’s denial of a referendum petition filed by the Washington Farm Bureau. The Farm Bureau filed the petition following passage of SB 6078 in the 2005 Legislature. SB 6078, among other things, suspended the requirement to raise taxes from a 2/3rds majority vote of the Legislature to a simple majority vote, paving the way for passage of over $400 million in new or increased taxes this year. To make the bill effective immediately, an emergency clause was attached. It was this emergency clause which Reed’s office said prohibited a referendum from being filed, thus denying the constitutional provision to take bills to a vote of the people.

The majority opinion by Justice Charles Johnson relied predominantly on past opinions where the Court gave deference to the Legislature in determining what is an emergency. They also continued the practice of allowing emergency declarations to liberally disallow the right to referendum.

In his dissent, Justice Jim Johnson stated that the bill passed by the legislature removing the supermajority requirement was “…devoid of any indication that it was ‘necessary for the support of state government and its existing public institutions.’” He also indicated that the Court has “…never abdicated our judicial role to allow the mere legislative insertion of an emergency clause to block referendum.”

Justice Sanders stated, “The majority betrays the sacred trust the people of this state place in this court to preserve inviolate their constitutional right to veto unwanted legislation through referendum. A legislature determined to inoculate itself from referendum, a secretary of state determined to violate his statutory and constitutional duty to allow a referendum petition to at least circulate, combined with a supreme court openly hostile to the people's check on the legislature, brews a potent poison to the people's constitutional role in the legislative process.”

Statements in response to the ruling

“Emergency clauses should be reserved for true emergencies in government, not for situations when someone simply wants to spend more money,” said Terry Hunt, President of the Washington State Grange. “The Court’s decision today allows the Legislature to continue hiding behind emergency clauses to avoid controversy and accountability from the public.”

”We have now seen a failure of three branches of government – the Legislature, the Governor, and now the Supreme Court – to respect and protect the people’s right to referendum,” said Dan Wood of the Washington Farm Bureau. “The Court has now ruled that the Legislature can call anything it wants to an ‘emergency’ and exempt all legislation from the constitutionally protected referendum process. The Legislature can now run roughshod over the rights of the people.”

“By attaching an emergency clause, the Legislature circumvented the ability for the people to hold them accountable,” said Carolyn Logue, Washington State Director for the National Federation of Independent Business. “It was a blatant attempt to get one by the taxpayers and we are amazed that the Supreme Court agreed.”

“The people’s right of referendum is now effectively null and void,” said Jason Mercier of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. “To restore the Constitutional principle that ‘All political power is inherent in the people,’ and affirm our right of referendum, a Constitutional Amendment may now be needed to end the Legislature’s abuse of the emergency clause.”

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