So, I doubt many people had heard about I-1366 in Washington State. It was the latest in a line of initiatives proposed by the extreme right-winger and tea party member Tim Eyman.
This initiative goes all the way to I-960 from 2007, which was also approved by voters (in another off-year election) and struck down by the courts.
It was an initiative that barely passed on the ballot last November 2015. Its goal was to make it all but impossible for the state legislature to ever raise any revenues, whether through taxes or other measures, ever again.
It would raise the bar for any votes to require a 2/3rds majority to pass. It’s method of enforcement was to coerce the State Legislator to pass a constitutional amendment to enforce the 2/3rds majority requirement with the penalty being that if they failed to do so by April 2016, the state sales tax would be cut to the tune of $8 Billion.
In January, a King County Superior Court justice struck down the initiative as unconstitutional and it began to work its way up the courts.
Today, the WA State Supreme Court ruled UNANIMOUSLY that this was unconstitutional and completely voided it.
This should be the final stake in the ground for Eyman’s decade long crusade to completely gum out our States ability to continue its movement toward being one of the most progressive states in the union.
www.permanentdefense.org/…