(The Center Square) – The initiative killer bill appears to be dead in Olympia. At least for this session.
SB 5973 – sponsored by Sen. Javier Valdez, D-Seattle, cleared out of the Senate State Government Tribal Affairs and Elections Committee last month, but on Tuesday, Sen. Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said the bill was not expected to advance ahead of Tuesday’s cutoff for bills.
By 5 p.m. on Feb. 17, all non-budget-related bills need to have passed out of their chamber of origin (House bills must pass the House, Senate bills must pass the Senate) to remain alive for the session. Bills that fail to pass by this date are generally considered dead.
SB 5973 would have required a minimum of 1,000 signatures to be submitted to the Secretary of State from those who support the measure, before the issue is given an official title and signature gathering can begin to ensure “viability” of the issue.
Valdez’s bill would also have banned the practice of paying signature gatherers for the number of signatures they acquire. They could still be paid by the hour, but not per-signature.
But as the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline came and went, the measure had not come up on the Senate floor for a vote.
The Center Square reached out to Let’s Go Washington, the political group behind several recent initiatives to the legislature, for comment on news that the measure appears dead for the session.
“The attempt by the legislature to kneecap the people’s initiative process was both shameless and arrogant. The demise this week of this initiative killer bill is a rare win for the people of Washington State,” said LGW founder Brian Heywood.
“The bill would have chilled participation in our state’s initiative process with penalties making citizens and voters think twice before participating in the signature gathering process. This is a hard-earned victory protecting one of the few tools voters have left to fight against an otherwise unchecked legislature,” Heywood said.
