I-1033 will devastate education, health care and other services

TIM Eyman's latest initiative, 1033, poses a serious threat to Washington's economy and quality of life, and couldn't come at a worse time.

In Colorado, voters passed a similar initiative in 1992, only to suspend it in 2005 after it defunded the state's schools, cost jobs and resulted in fewer kids with health insurance.

Under this law, Colorado fell to 49th in the nation for funding education, and still ranks near the bottom in high-school-graduation rates. Support for higher education ranks 49th in the nation, and students bear the burden of increased tuition. The number of low-income children without health insurance doubled. Colorado's economy grew significantly slower than its neighbors after the economic downturns in the early part of this decade.

Do we have any reason to think the impacts of I-1033 would be any different in Washington?

No. Eyman's initiative is fundamentally the same as Colorado's law. It's an import, a proven failure, and would bring home the rigid spending limit and arbitrary formula behind Colorado's decline.

Here in Washington, I-1033 would lock in cuts made during this recession. This year, $1.5 billion was cut from public education, and public schools have laid off teachers, cut bus routes and increased class sizes. An additional $500 million was cut from Washington's colleges and universities. College students are paying up to 28 percent more in tuition, even as their course offerings are shrinking and staff vacancies are being left open.

Health care is also a target of I-1033. About 35,000 people are in danger of losing health insurance because of cuts to the Basic Health Plan. Hospitals, nursing homes and other health caregivers are cutting back vital services. I-1033 would make these and the other cuts made during the worst recession in decades permanent, locked in place even after the economy recovers.

I-1033 would force even deeper cuts in the future, worsening the health-care crisis for families, taking resources away from classrooms and kids, and making it harder to dig out of this recession.

I-1033 would apply a rigid formula of inflation plus population growth to determine the size of city, county and state budgets. But the costs of health care and education rise much faster than what this formula would allow. It fails to consider the growing portion of seniors in our population with greater needs for social and emergency services. And a one-size-fits-all formula for every single city and county in Washington ignores their individual needs and priorities — no exceptions, no way to respond to emergencies and no ability to support local priorities.

The nonpartisan Office of Financial Management found that I-1033's formula would reduce city and county revenues by $2.8 billion over the next five years. The same study found that its formula would reduce state revenues that support education, health care and other services by $5.9 billion by 2015.

Taken together, it's not hard to see why 225 businesses, education organizations, environmental groups, health-care leaders and labor unions have come together to oppose I-1033. The negative impacts of Eyman's initiative will extend far beyond the state capital and deep into every community, hospital, school and business in Washington state.

I-1033 is a proven failure our communities, students, seniors and businesses can't afford. Despite what Eyman says, we can look at what Colorado's law did to the state's economy, classrooms and health, and know we shouldn't make the same mistake.

We urge you to vote no on I-1033.