Washington
That’s the word from the Office of the Secretary of State and the Building Industry Association of Washington. Builders expect to turn in the signatures for their measure to allow the private-sector sale of workers compensation insurance on July 2. Amy Brackenbury of BIAW confirmed that the group plans to turn in the signatures for Initiative 1082. Update: Brackenbury says they don’t have all the signatures yet and are still collecting, using a combination of volunteers and paid gatherers.
Initiative sponsor Tim Eyman will have to collect more signatures on a measure opposing red light cameras in Mukilteo, his home town. The initiative needs about 1,800 valid signatures. Eyman turned in about 1,900. But the Snohomish County auditor’s office found about 400 names were invalid.
When members of the Puyallup City Council revisited the issue of term limits last week, it seemed likely they would vote to approve or reject an advisory ballot measure for the public this November. Instead, conversation at the council’s June 8 meeting shifted to the possibility of enacting public initiatives and referendums, a way of taking the highly controversial subject of term limits out of the council’s hands.
Potential ballot measures, the campaign finance reform ordinance and the city’s budget are a few of the items up for discussion at the Eureka City Council’s meeting on Tuesday. The city has to submit measures to place on the November ballot soon, and the council will consider approving the Balloon Track property zoning measure and the supplemental transaction and use tax measure for that election.
Lorie Graff married her American husband at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in the late 1950s, before returning to Canada to apply for a green card so she could live in the U.S. legally. In the 1990s, Tiarani Samsi was able to finally follow her husband to the U.S. from Indonesia, after waiting three years for the legal papers.
Supporters of Initiative 1068, which would legalize marijuana in Washington, are up in smoke at being dumped by an influential union and being treated as a “fringe issue” by the state Democratic Party. “It was (bleeping) tacky after they danced with us for months,” said Philip Dawdy, I-1068 campaign coordinator. The campaign learned, from an Associated Press reporter, that it would not be getting money from the Service Employees International Union and other wellsprings of cash for liberal causes in the Evergreen State.
It appears all Puyallup residents will have a chance to publicly voice their opinions on term limits for city council members. The council voted unanimously at its May 25 meeting to have city staff draft a proposal that would appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot. Under Councilmember Don Malloy’s plan, the results of the “advisory ballot” wouldn’t bind the council to a decision but would give officials a clearer sense of how the public feels about the issue.
He has collected 3.4 million signatures from Washington state voters in the past decade, but now referendum guru Tim Eyman has set his sights on gathering just 1804 names — in his own home town. Eyman on Monday joined forces with Campaign for Liberty and the group BanCams.com to eliminate speed cameras and red light cameras from Mukilteo, a town of about 18,000 residents. Until now, Eyman has deliberately avoided becoming ensnared in local politics, but the traffic camera issue gave him no choice.
Costco Wholesale stores in Washington will begin collecting signatures next week to put an initiative on the ballot in November that would take the state out of the liquor business. Initiative 1100 would allow businesses in good standing that currently sell beer and wine to also sell liquor, and it would eliminate price controls and allow volume discounts.
The King County Council fell one vote short Monday of sending residents an August ballot measure that would increase the county’s sales tax to save criminal justice services from drastic cuts. Despite pleas from Sheriff Sue Rahr and a room of uniformed police officers, the council’s four Republican members voted no. Needing six votes to pass, the measure died along an anticipated 5-4 partisan split.
Employer representatives on the Association of Washington Business’ (AWB) Board of Directors have voted unanimously to support Initiative 1053, a measure requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to raise taxes. Board members approved the vote May 13 during the state chamber of commerce’s annual Spring Board Meeting in Spokane.
Backers of a state income tax say they’ll be on the street soon pitching Initiative 1098 to voters. A Thurston County judge approved final wording on the ballot title for I-1098, the high-earners income tax proposal backed by Bill Gates Sr., the Service Employees International Union and other groups. Thanks to Superior Court Judge Richard D. Hicks’ ruling, backers can print petitions and circulate them with voters in a sprint to collect 241,153 valid voter signatures by July 2 to qualify for the November ballot.
This year, The Seattle Times is almost sure to oppose some of the initiatives that make the ballot. But we support the initiative mechanism. It is part of the political culture of our state and part of the grist of daily journalism. It brings issues to the fore. It is the stuff of democracy.
Read the editorial here.
Chances are good if you attend any organized event in Bremerton in the coming weeks, you’ll see someone asking, “What the cluck?” or another chicken-related pun. That is one the strategies being employed in the bid to get a chicken decriminalization initiative on the November general election ballot. Supporters of the movement to allow up to four hens in Bremerton backyards were in view at the Armed Forces Parade on Saturday and planned to hit up commuters and outbound Mariner fans at the Bremerton ferry terminal on Wednesday.
A state income tax has for years been the “third rail” of Washington politics, but a broad activist coalition on Wednesday night launched a signature drive to put Initiative 1098 onto the November ballot. It would be the first time a tax reform measure, including an income tax, has been put to a public vote in nearly 40 years.