Update: Correction. We initially reported that the GOP was able to pass amendments to SB 6843 to preserve the transparency requirements of I-960. That was incorrect. It was a democrat amendment intended to suspend I-960 in its entirety that essentially preserved the transparency requirements by accident. The story has been amended to reflect this correction.
This morning we reported that the GOP could claim a partial victory in yesterday’s vote to suspend I-960 because several aspects of the initiative were left intact—including the 10-year fiscal outlook and public announcement requirements about tax increase bills.
The democrats thought the bill they passed yesterday would suspend I-960 in its entirety for one year because of a democrat-sponsored amendment, but because of a bizarre misunderstanding, the amended bill only suspended the two-thirds majority vote requirement. Now the dems have called a mulligan on yesterday’s vote.
A new bill, which would suspend all of I-960, has already been introduced and voted through the Senate Ways and Means committee. The next stop for the bill is the Senate Rules Committee. The Senate Democrats want to fast track the new bill to the Senate floor, but that will take some cooperation from the Republicans, which might be a little difficult to wrangle.
“In order for the bill to be pulled out of rules and heard on the floor, it needs a procedural vote which gives the minority party some leverage,” said Jeff Reading, Senate Democrats Communications Director.
Tim Eyman responded to the democrats’ screw-up in a press release this morning.
“Democrats in Olympia aren’t bound by 3 votes of the people, nor by their own vote yesterday,” Eyman wrote. “They are above the law, above the rules, above reproach, above criticism.
