Other initiatives adjusted by lawmakers

This was not the first time the state Legislature has adjusted, suspended or repealed a voter-passed initiative. Some recent examples:

State spending:Approved by voters in 1993, I-601 created a state spending limit to restrain the growth of the state budget. Extra money had to be deposited into a reserve account. I-601 also required a two-thirds vote of the Legislature for tax increases.

By the late 1990s, lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, started itching for ways to spend money locked up by the initiative. They made a series of changes over several years to weaken the spending limit. By 2002, when the two-thirds requirement was axed by legislative Democrats, the initiative had largely been neutered.

Education: By wide margins, voters in 2000 approved I-728 and I-732, measures calling for better teacher pay raises and money to cut class sizes. The measures carried no funding. The Legislature has suspended them in lean years, including 2003-2005 and again this year.

Long-term-care workers: In 2008, more than 70 percent of voters approved I-1029, sponsored by a health-care workers union. It required the state to spend more money on training and background checks for workers who provide in-home care for elderly people. Because of state budget problems, the Legislature suspended the initiative shortly after its passage.

Tax increases: About 51 percent of voters in 2007 approved Tim Eyman's I-960, which required a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, or a public vote, for any tax increases. Majority Democrats cited the state's budget shortfall this year in approving a bill to suspend the initiative for one year.

They also nixed the requirement that explanations of any tax increases be printed in the voters pamphlet along with the names of all legislators who voted for and against them. Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the bill suspending I-960 on Wednesday.

Jim Brunner: 360-236-8267 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com