State Supreme Court considers tax limits
Tuesday, September 9, 2008 2:40 PM PDT
By Rachel La Corte
The Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articleOLYMPIA — A top Democratic state lawmaker asked the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to throw out voter-approved laws requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to raise taxes.
Attorney Thomas Ahearne, representing Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, told the high court that Washington’s “supermajority” tax-vote rule is unconstitutional because it effectively alters the state constitution’s provision that lawmakers need a simple majority to pass laws.
The supermajority law was passed by initiative, but Brown argues that a constitutional amendment — much more difficult to pass — is needed to alter the Legislature’s voting powers.
“Our constitution establishes our democracy, which is one where majority rules, not special interests or minority rule,” he told the nine justices.
But the high court peppered Ahearne with questions about why the case was before them in the first place, and whether the Legislature’s majority Democrats had avoided using other options before coming to the courts.
“The court plunging headfirst into the legislative process, that’s a concern I have,” Justice Barbara Madsen said.
Brown’s lawsuit challenges the two-thirds vote requirements, which were approved in 1993’s Initiative 601 and broadened in last year’s I-960. In the past, lawmakers have amended and even suspended the two-thirds provision at times, something justices noted.
A majority of the Legislature could amend such an initiative two years after it is passed by voters, but Ahearne said that step wouldn’t solve any constitutional problems.
The lawsuit is technically against Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, who is the Senate’s presiding officer, over a parliamentary ruling he made in March. Owen ruled that a proposed $10 million liquor tax increase, which got a simple majority vote of 25-21, had failed because it did not get supermajority support.
Many lawmakers, particularly Democrats, dislike the two-thirds vote requirement’s infringement on their powers, and the liquor tax proposal was widely seen as a ploy by Brown to challenge the supermajority law’s constitutional footing.
On Tuesday, Ahearne argued that Owen should have been required to pass that bill on to the state House.
“Under our interpretation ... this statute is unconstitutional. It is the simple majority provisions that prevail,” he said.
Chief Justice Gerry Alexander said that argument “seems like an oblique way to argue the constitutionality of the statute before this court.”
State Solicitor General Maureen Hart, representing Owen, argued that Brown’s case should not be considered by the high court. Owen’s ruling was procedural, she said, and not binding. If majority Democrats really wanted to pass the bill in question, they could have overruled him, Hart argued.
“This whole notion that somehow the lieutenant governor has issued judicial or legal rulings is not the case,” she said.
Hart said the proper challenge before the court would be if the Legislature passed a tax bill with a simple majority, and it was signed into law, and then a person who didn’t want the tax brought the issue to court.
“None of that happened here,” she said.
After the hearing, Brown said the court needs to determine the constitutionality of the case so that it doesn’t keep resurfacing year after year.
“It keeps coming forward,” she said. “The Legislature has both suspended it and re-enacted it, but ultimately, if it is unconstitutional, it’s up to the Supreme Court to make that ruling.”
Initiative promoter Tim Eyman, who sponsored I-960, said Brown wants to clear the way to raise taxes in next year’s session.
“There’s no legal impediment standing in her way,” he said. “She’s trying to get the court to resolve the political question that she has, to give herself political cover.”
The Democratic-controlled Legislature is facing a projected deficit of perhaps $2.7 billion in the budget that will be written next year. Lawmakers would need to raise taxes, cut spending or both to fill any shortfall.
Brown, however, said her court challenge was about upholding the state constitution, so “we’re not held hostage to a minority of legislators when we’re passing public policy or budgets.”
The case is Lisa Brown v. Brad Owen, docket number 81287-0.
On the Net:
Supreme Court of Washington: www.courts.wa.gov
flatbakman wrote on Sep 9, 2008 2:19 PM:
El Gabilon wrote on Sep 9, 2008 3:03 PM:
DW wrote on Sep 9, 2008 3:55 PM:
flatbakman wrote on Sep 9, 2008 4:31 PM:
What is it going to take to bring our elected officials back to the reality that they work for us, not for what ever they want or can steal? "
DW wrote on Sep 9, 2008 6:14 PM:
Common Sense wrote on Sep 9, 2008 7:05 PM:
If taxes pay for cops, firefighters, hospitals, etc...then we are safer.
If taxes pay for better roads, better education, better health care systems, etc...then we are safer and happier community.
If taxes pay for the assisted living for those that can't help themselves (children, mental health issues, loss of work, insurance for the under insured) then that spells a better place to raise children and families.
Everyone needs to put taxes and lawmakers in perspective. It seems that many people are placing the word taxes and lawmakers into the arena of "us against them." Call me an idealist here, but I feel living in a safer state, a better community, a better served population regarding healthcare and education is much more important than a small tax increase would cost. Do you folks realize that by not paying now, we will be paying triple when everything hits the fan. Look at the drug problem for an example. For the conservatives out there, your complaint is why should you pay more than the rest. My answer; $30 a month in taxes is relative to a young couple scraping by and paying $20...Put life into perspective!
~Common Sense "
Commenter wrote on Sep 9, 2008 7:11 PM:
cynic954 wrote on Sep 9, 2008 7:30 PM:
Old Charlie wrote on Sep 10, 2008 12:06 AM:
TDN Bad Boy wrote on Sep 10, 2008 12:39 PM:
Common Sense wrote on Sep 10, 2008 1:14 PM:
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