Beyond CW

Initiative 960 legislative session:

Without Initiative 960, approved by voters in 2007, this year’s legislative session would have been radically more expensive for taxpayers.  I-960’s policies were a constant reminder to Democrats that the people were watching and that the people were going to have the final say on tax increases.  I-960 forced Democrats to consider what the taxpayers wanted, and because of that, legislative support for tax hikes evaporated.  The tea parties and our committee testimony against tax increases were certainly helpful, but it was Initiative 960 that put teeth into the peoples’ no-new-taxes lobbying effort.

There can be no doubt that without I-960, Gregoire and the Democrats would have said “The only responsible way to balance this $9 billion deficit is with half tax increases, half spending adjustments.”  That would have meant a $4.5 billion tax hike.  That’d be a 13% sales tax rate or a 50% increase in everyone’s property taxes.  Either would have decimated struggling working families and permanently damaged our state’s economy.

I-960’s required 10-year cost analysis and legislators’ bill sponsorship and voting records, sent out via email to the public and the press, definitely got into the heads of Olympia’s politicians.  Politicians’ culpability in attacking taxpayers’ wallets was fully disclosed and specifically quantified thanks to I-960’s email alerts.  That got their knees shakin’.

I-960’s two-thirds-for-tax-increases requirement was especially essential this year, given the pain families are already feeling right now with the tough economy.  This left Democrats with the prospect of getting tax hikes approved by voters at the ballot box.  As stated before, this forced Democrats to think about the taxpayers, a group of folks the Democrats aren’t accustomed to considering.  Democrats continued to stack their committee hearings with pro-tax-increase special interest group advocates, but they knew that with the voters having the final say, such manipulation wasn’t going to work this time.

I-960’s advisory vote requirement on tax hikes was a back-up in the event a tax increase (even if Democrats called it something else) did get unilaterally imposed.  The Attorney General is mandated under I-960 to determine whether approved bills raised taxes, as broadly defined by I-960, and if he identified any, he would have the increase put on the November ballot for the voters to vote on.  Two pages in the voters pamphlet would be set-aside and the 10 year cost analysis, as well as legislators’ vote on the bill, along with their contact information, would be listed.  This policy really rocked ‘em.

Democrats’ efforts to get around I-960’s protections, by going on a fee-increase-rampage, for example, only justifies the need for this year’s Initiative 1033.  I-1033 puts an overall revenue limit on state government, protecting taxpayers from the Democrats’ newfound obsession with fees and other charges.  This year’s Initiative 1033 protects taxpayers from Democrats’ efforts to circumvent I-960.

This was the Initiative 960 legislative session. During the session, the taxpayers’ best defender and advocate was I-960.  Our supporters should be extremely proud of themselves for making I-960’s policies a reality in 2007.

-Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan, & Mike Fagan, Lower Property Taxes Initiative co-sponsors, ph: 425-493-9127, email: tim_eyman@comcast.net, http://www.VotersWantMoreChoices.com

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WA. democrats give Colleges OK to Raise

Tuition 14% per year….

By Michelle Dupler, Tricity Herald staff writer
OLYMPIA — The state Senate on Saturday voted 29-20 to approve a measure paving the way for colleges and universities to raise tuition beyond the statutory 7 percent annual cap.

House Bill 2344, introduced by Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, removes the statutory cap for the state’s regional four-year colleges and research universities for the 2009-11 biennium.

It passed in the House by a 50-47 vote Wednesday.

The operating budget proposal negotiated by House and Senate Democrats would allow four-year colleges and universities to raise tuition 14 percent per year for the next two school years to help offset more than $500 million in proposed budget cuts.

Democrats have proposed about $4 billion in cuts to programs in higher education, K-12 education, health care, human services, natural resources and public safety to bridge a nearly $9 billion revenue gap.

Opponents of the tuition measure — almost exclusively Republicans — argued that increasing tuition would affect low- and middle-income families who already are struggling through a lengthy recession and cause students to take on more debt to pay for college.

“We’re gonna hurt people, and the people we’re gonna hurt are families who are already hurting and students who need to get an education,” said Sen. Cheryl Pflug, R-Maple Valley.

Democratic supporters countered that without tuition increases, enrollments would drop and students might have no opportunity to attend college at all.

“With this, we can see an additional 6,000 students able to enter the doors of our institutions of higher education,” said Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, chairman of the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee. “That means we buy back 6,000 enrollments.”

The budget negotiated by House and Senate Democrats would cut about 9,000 enrollments from the state’s higher education system.

The measure now heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire for her signature. Gregoire has publicly supported the idea of higher tuition-setting authority for four-year universities