Helen Sommers: An Oral History

pg. 74 Sales Tax vs. Income Tax & Referendum/Initiative
to meet its ability to govern?
Representative Sommers: Our ‘Citizen Initiative’
process is losing its grassroots traditions, yes! Individuals
collecting signatures in successful petition
drivers are now often working for pay – usually
one dollar for each signature. So, they don’t care
about the negative sides of an initiative sponsored
as a business, and I don’t think they always give
honest answers to people they’re urging to sign
the petitions.
The 1995 property rights initiative campaign
turned in hundreds of ‘forged signatures.’ A recent
initiative drive was funded by contributions from a
single individual. Another initiative benefited from
large out-of-state contributions! So it is no longer
intended for the good of the people of Washington.
Tragically for citizens, the courts overturned a 1993
law to ban paid signature-gathering.
In 1996, a bi-partisan group tried to bring more
accountability to the process by increasing the
fines and penalties for voter-petition fraud and
by requiring disclosure to the voters if supporters
paid for collection of signatures. Unfortunately,
the House Republican majority refused to move
the proposals out of committee.
In 1999, voters passed Initiative 695 that all car
tabs cost $30 for the state’s driver, rather than the
system of licenses based on the value of the vehicle.
In the 2000 session, we had to deal with a loss of
$1.1 billion in revenues because of the initiative.
That was a loss of over one-third of all the taxes
dedicated to transportation, plus big cuts in revenue
for local governments.