This Washington
State Senators Want to Bar Unfunded Initiatives
At a press conference today, Gov. Chris Gregoire indicated she'd support a constitutional amendment being proposed by a bipartisan troupe of state senators (though mostly Republicans, including minority leader Sen. Mike Hewitt, R-16, Walla Walla) that would prohibit any initiatives by the people that added costs to the state without also providing funding.
The AP has the story.
The AP has the story.
Gregoire said she would probably support such a constitutional amendment, saying the public needs to be as responsible for finding the money as the Legislature would be. She noted that she inherited initiatives with policy ideas that she supported — for example, Initiative 732 approved a decade ago requires annual cost-of-living adjustments for education workers — but had no way to pay for them.
"The Legislature can't tell us to do something without funding," Gregoire said. "When the people act on an initiative, they are the Legislature. They accept the same responsibility that the Legislature does."
Gregoire did not support a recent union initiative, SEIU's 1163—an $18 million a year measure to fund health care worker training; she's complained about it to the press, but shrugged her shoulders and said she's been forced to include it in her budget.
