I Developments in Washington's Law of Law-Making - Gonzaga ...

2008/09] WASHINGTON'S LAW OF LAW-MAKING
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about the Weyerhaeuser/WEA test addresses whether an act has "adequately or
correctly set forth the law that it seeks to amend." 312
The court reasoned that article II, section 37 is intended to "ensure that those
enacting an amendatory law are fully aware of the proposed law's impact on existing
law" by requiring that the act or section be set forth at full length. 3 " 3 The court relied
on cases that considered ballot titles and legislative titles 314 under article II, section 19
to determine that compliance with article II, section 37 is determined at the time of
the relevant legislative action: the operative vote, which in this case was the people's
vote. 3 15
For these reasons, the court focused on the voters' understanding of the effect of
the initiative at the time of the vote, rather than the date the initiative was filed, in
order to fulfill the constitutional requirement of article II, section 37. The court
determined that 1-747 was invalid because the initiative before the voters on election
day showed the statute going from a limit factor generally based on a 2% cap to one
based on a 1% cap (the statutory change made by 1-747 to 1-722) rather than going
from 6% to 1% (the change to the operative law resulting from the intervening court
316
action rather than from a legislative change to the statute). Even though the section
of law in question was set forth in its entirety and even though the initiative text
clearly indicated that if approved the limit cap would be based on 1%, the court
reasoned that because 1-722 had been invalidated, the change should have been made
to the section as it existed prior to its amendment by 1-722. 3 1 7 In other words, the
section before the voters should have looked like this:
Sec. 2. RCW 84.55.005 and 1997 c 393 s 20 and 1997 c 3 s 201 are each
reenacted and amended to read as follows: ....
(2) "Limit factor" means:
(a) For taxing districts with a population of less than ten thousand in the calendar
year prior to the assessment year, one hundred ((six)) one percent;
(b) For taxing districts for which a limit factor is authorized under RCW
84.55.0101, the lesser of the limit factor under that section or one hundred ((six))
one percent;
312. Id at 495 (emphasis in original).
313. Idat491.
314. Initiatives to the legislature and referendum bills and measures have both ballot titles and
legislative titles. See Law of Law-Making, supra note 8, at 461-62.
315. Wash. Citizens Action of Wash., 171 P.3d at 492 (citing cases).
316. Id.
317. Id. at 492-93,495-96.