Despite the Senate Republicans doing their best to delay the inevitable with long-winded quotes from the constitution, White Center-area Sen. Margarita Prentice’s (D-11) bill to suspend I-960—the 2007 voter-approved rule that the legislature needs a two-thirds majority to raise taxes, passed the Senate this afternoon, 26-23. No Republicans voted for the bill. And five Democrats—Sens. Steve Hobbs, Claudia Kauffman, Derek Kilmer, Chris Marr and Tim Sheldon joined the GOP with ‘No’ votes.
Kauffman is from eastside suburban Seattle swing district turf, the 47th District, around Covington and Auburn.
The debate was filibuster-proof thanks to Federal Way Sen. Tracy Eide (D-30) imposing a special rule that each senator could only talk for three minutes and only once per part of each bill. The rule still didn’t dam the stories of angry constituents, quoting of past presidents and the state constitution, though, nor repetitive speaking points from both sides of the aisle—the Republicans repeating their three main arguments against the bill and Democrats repeating their two main arguments for it.
The minority party argued that the bill subverts the will of the people, that raising taxes in a down economy will further harm businesses and extend the recession, and that the bill would be unnecessary if the Democrats would only reach across the aisle and work on bipartisan solutions for the budget deficit.
In language typical of the drama of the day, East King County Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R-5) warned
her colleagues about the risks they faced from voters if they amended this voter initiative.
“If you do this, many of you will return to a wall of rage at home,” said Sen. Pflug.
The democrats argued that, instead of subverting the will of the voters, they are doing their duty as elected officials by passing legislation that will help them balance the budget (ie, it’s easier to raise taxes when you don’t need a two thirds vote). They also argued that this bill will help them retain many of the social services that citizens rely on in tough economic times.
“We’ve heard a lot about the will of the people,” said Tacoma Sen. Rosa Franklin (D-29). “That will also contains compassion. I’m not going to throw kids under the bus, I’m going to put them on the bus to school. I’m not going to throw grandma under the bus, I’m going to help her by preserving essential services.”
