[EL] Court strikes down super majority in Washington

[Smith,Daniel A]

For the latest on ballot measures and election law, readers might consult my chapter in Matt Streb's Ed volume that came out last fall, Law and Election Politics, http://books.google.com/books/about/Law_and_Election_Politics.html?id=5pJTWR7pZhAC



daniel a. smith
sent from my iPhone

On Mar 2, 2013, at 12:04 PM, "Larry Levine" <larrylevine at earthlink.net<mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>> wrote:

Yes. I’m aware of that and I’ve been involved in campaigns in some of those states. The point I intended to make was whether this Washington decision contains the seeds of an attack on the requirement of a two-thirds majority to pass a ballot measure, since the electorate is acting as the legislature.
Larry

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu> [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Edward Still
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2013 8:54 AM
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] Court strikes down super majority in Washington

Actually, a lot of states allow initiative and/or referendum on statutes. See the table at http://www.iandrinstitute.org/statewide_i%26r.htm.


Edward Still
Edward Still Law Firm LLC
130 Wildwood Parkway STE 108-304
Birmingham AL 35209
205-320-2882
still at votelaw.com<mailto:still at votelaw.com>
www.votelaw.com/blog<http://www.votelaw.com/blog>
www.edwardstill.com<http://www.edwardstill.com>
www.linkedin.com/in/edwardstill<http://www.linkedin.com/edwardstill>

On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 10:30 AM, Richard Winger <richardwinger at yahoo.com<mailto:richardwinger at yahoo.com>> wrote:
Washington state's initiative policy does not let the voters amend the state constitution.  So, as the court says, the initiative was just a statute, not a state constitutional amendment.  Generally states with the initiative process let the voters amend the state constitution, so generally anti-tax initiatives (like California's Prop. 13) do amend the state constitution.  For that reason, it seems to me the Washington State Supreme Court opinion won't have impact in other states.

Richard Winger
415-922-9779<tel:415-922-9779>
PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

--- On Sat, 3/2/13, Larry Levine <larrylevine at earthlink.net<mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>> wrote:

From: Larry Levine <larrylevine at earthlink.net<mailto:larrylevine at earthlink.net>>
Subject: [EL] Court strikes down super majority in Washington
To: law-election at department-lists.uci.edu<mailto:law-election at department-lists.uci.edu>
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2013, 8:22 AM


It’s just a state court decision and will have no impact outside of Washington, but could the court’s rationale find life in other states. And if I recall correctly, in the case of a ballot measure are the voters deemed to be acting as the legislative body. I seem to remember that as being the reason why tax exempt organizations are allowed to lobby the voters in a ballot measure campaign just as they are allowed to lobby the legislature.

Larry



http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020453654_supremetwothirdsxml.html



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