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Judge Won't Block Tim Eyman's Initiative From Ballot

Jennifer Wing
/
KPLU
Tim Eyman taking questions from reporters in the hallway of the King County Court House.

 

A King County Superior Court judge says Tim Eyman’s latest initiative will not be removed from the November ballot.

Initiative 1366 requires the Legislature to put a constitutional amendment before voters that would reinstate a two-thirds legislative majority to raise taxes.

 

The threat if they don’t do this, is that the state’s 6.5 cent sales tax would be lowered to 5.5 cents, costing the state more than a billion dollars each year.

 

Opponents who say the initiative goes too far will appeal this decision to the state Supreme Court. The initiative’s author, Tim Eyman, says voters should have the final say.

 

“That expression of the voters is valid free speech, first amendment rights. And for them to say we don’t want the first amendment to apply in Washington this November. I just think is just goofy.”

 

The judge’s ruling says that while the measure appears to exceed the scope of the initiative process, free speech might be violated if it is struck from the ballot.

The case now goes to the state Supreme Court. The court needs to reach a decision by September fourth, before ballots are printed.

In the past, Eyman has had success getting voters to approve initiatives requiring a two-thirds majority, but the state Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that such a rule is unconstitutional.

Jennifer Wing is a former KNKX reporter and producer who worked on the show Sound Effect and Transmission podcast.