Roach fights to reinstate taxpayer protection act

Published 2:07 pm Friday, February 12, 2016

For the Reporter

Today the Senate failed to gain the votes necessary to send to the voters a constitutional amendment that would have required a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislature to raise taxes.

Sen. Pam Roach, R-Sumner, who sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 8211, says she will continue to fight for this key taxpayer protection and the right of the people to be heard on this issue.

A constitutional amendment must be endorsed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives before it can be added to the following November’s general-election ballot. Two-thirds of the 49-member Senate is 33 votes.

Roach believes those votes would have been there if those senators who voted against the measure would have simply looked at how their legislative districts supported Initiative 1185, the most recent ballot measure focused solely on the supermajority requirement.

“We the people have spoken on this issue multiple times – voting for some version of the two-thirds tax-vote rule six times over 22 years – only to see our efforts thwarted by the Legislature or the courts each time,” Roach said. “Voters in 44 of the state’s 49 legislative districts approved I-1185. Seventy-two percent of those voting in my district said ‘yes’ to requiring a two-thirds majority vote for tax increases. I am trying to do right by them.

“I wish a few more of my colleagues would do the same for their constituents.”

Roach pointed out that I-1185 received a 64 percent “yes” vote statewide and received majority support in all 39 counties. Initiative 1185 required a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to approve tax increases, rather than a simple-majority vote. The higher standard dates to 1993 and also was endorsed by voters in 2007 and 2010.

In 2013, however, the state Supreme Court nullified the two-thirds tax rule, saying that the supermajority requirement was unconstitutional and could not be implemented without a constitutional amendment. Voters responded by adopting Initiative 1366 at the 2015 general election. That measure requires the Legislature to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, or face a decrease in the state retail sales tax rate.

Earlier this year a King County Superior Court judge ruled that I-1366 is unconstitutional – a decision that will likely be reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

Roach pointed to a recent statewide poll that showed that 65 percent of voters still want a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds majority to raise taxes even if the high court does strike down I-1366.

“How the Supreme Court may rule doesn’t change our obligation as lawmakers to listen to our voters,” said Roach. “I represent the people of the 31st District, and I will continue to stand by them in support of making this requirement a permanent part of the constitution we are sworn to uphold.”

“I will continue to support the higher threshold for tax hikes, because voters have demanded it, and it is the right thing to do.”