Move to lump I-960 votes puts Dems, GOP at odds

OLYMPIA — An initiative that passed last year could give the GOP some handy campaign fodder by requiring the Democratic-controlled Legislature to vote on millions of dollars in fee increases sought by agencies this session.

Initiative 960, approved by voters in November, requires a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to increase taxes. But it also says agency fees can't be increased without a simple majority of lawmakers voting in favor. The law is aimed at making lawmakers think twice before raising fees or taxes.

Legislators typically deal only with a handful of fee increases in any given year. That's because before I-960, agencies could increase fees on their own as long as they didn't exceed limits set by state law.

I-960 sponsor Tim Eyman, as well as many Republicans, are attacking Democratic plans to lump the fee increases together instead of taking separate votes on several hundred fees. Democrats say individual votes would bog down the Legislature, which is scheduled to adjourn Thursday.

The intent of I-960 is clear, Eyman contends.

"You need to make an evaluation on each one of these things and take it just as seriously as a tax increase," he said. "It sets a horrible precedent for them to lump these things together and force legislators to take all-or-nothing votes."

Democrats say the initiative doesn't require a separate vote on each fee increase. So they plan to approve most of them in the state operating budget this week, which requires only one vote in each House. The fees in question range from pesticide licensing to college tuition.

"We can't run that many individual bills," said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam. "There are hundreds of them. There's no way. We'd have to be a full-time Legislature to do that."

The numbers vary on how many fee increases are at stake. The House currently plans to approve more than 260 fee increases worth almost $86 million through the next fiscal year.

Democratic leaders said most of those will be included in the operating budget and some will go into a separate bill.

Agencies and institutions that depend on fees to help pay for programs have been in a mad rush to get their increases included in the budget.

The University of Washington has about $45 million at stake, including a resident-undergraduate-tuition increase worth around $11 million. The university's fees are expected to be approved.

The issue came to a head as the Legislature entered its final week and lawmakers learned there were hundreds of fees requiring legislative approval. I-960 applies to any fee increased after the law took effect on Dec. 6.

There was talk last week in the House of passing a fairly small number of fee increases, but the idea quickly faded after a flood of state agencies predicted major problems if their increases weren't approved.

Rep. Hans Dunshee, vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, dismissed critics who say lawmakers should take a vote on each fee.

"It's just a campaign trick by Eyman and his Republican allies," said Dunshee, D-Snohomish. "That's the whole purpose of the initiative, is to cause that hit piece to be written next November. That's all it's about."

Eyman said Dunshee is partly right. "It was intended to create a hit piece against any politician, I don't care what party they're in," he said.

Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, the ranking Republican on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, agreed with Eyman that the Legislature should take up each fee one by one.

Zarelli said he didn't buy the argument that lawmakers don't have time to review all the fee increases.

"We find a way to deal with 2,000-some-odd bills, some that are important and a lot that aren't," he said. "We can maybe take some of that off our plate and put things on we ought to scrutinize more."

Andrew Garber: 360-943-9882 or agarber@seattletimes.com.

This story, published March 11, 2008 was corrected on March 11. State Sen. Joe Zarelli was incorrectly listed as a Democrat from Ridgefield. Zarelli is a Republican.