Let’s Go Washington (LGW) announced in a news release Thursday it will file a lawsuit against Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs challenging the alleged improper use of a “necessity clause” to block a public referendum on the recently signed income tax.
In its rejection letter, the secretary of state’s office cited a version of the Washington state Constitution that does not exist, according to a news release from LGW.
“We filed the referendum against Bob Ferguson’s unconstitutional income tax because the people of our state have a right to make their voice heard,” said Brian Heywood, LGW’s founder. “The Secretary of State’s rejection misquotes the Constitution; that doesn’t make the rejection right, and it certainly doesn’t make it legal. If Bob Ferguson, Laurie Jinkins and Jamie Pedersen think rewriting the Constitution will stop this conversation, they’re underestimating how outraged Washingtonians are with Olympia’s cavalier attitude towards both the Constitution and the will of the electorate.”
In its rejection, Heywood contends the secretary of state’s office misquoted the referenced constitutional provision in a manner that materially alters its legal meaning.
The constitution the secretary of state cited: "except those laws deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, or safety, or for the support of the state government and its existing public institutions."
The constitution as written: "except such laws as may be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, support of the state government and its existing public institutions."
The secretary of state’s letter inserts the phrase "or for," which is language that does not appear anywhere in the Constitution, thus converting a single unified standard into two independent exemption grounds, the release from LGW claimed.
Additionally, the secretary of state letter replaces "may be necessary" with "deemed necessary," language that converts a constitutional threshold into a legislative rubber stamp, Heywood asserted in the release.
“If simply declaring something ‘necessary’ is enough to block a referendum, then there are effectively no limits,” Heywood added. “By that logic, any bill could be shielded from voter review with a single line of text.”
LGW will be asking the Washington state Supreme Court to clarify the limits of the necessity clause and protect the public’s constitutional right to referendum, according to the release.
LGW said the issue was further underscored by Ferguson’s own veto message on the same day that he signed his income tax into law. In his veto message on an amendment to the Climate Commitment Act, he stated that the measure did not meet the legal standard required for an emergency designation, the release reads.
