{"id":111214,"date":"2010-02-25T00:17:49","date_gmt":"2010-02-25T08:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/news\/peninsula-poll-backgrounder-governor-approves-suspension-of-eyman-anti-tax-voter-initiative\/"},"modified":"2018-10-15T11:41:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T18:41:17","slug":"peninsula-poll-backgrounder-governor-approves-suspension-of-eyman-anti-tax-voter-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/news\/peninsula-poll-backgrounder-governor-approves-suspension-of-eyman-anti-tax-voter-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"PENINSULA POLL BACKGROUNDER: Governor approves suspension of Eyman anti-tax voter initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Peninsula Daily News news sources<\/p>\n<p>OLYMPIA — If you ask Tim Eyman what he thinks about Gov. Chris Gregoire signing into law a measure to temporarily suspend the tax-limiting constraints placed on lawmakers by Eyman’s voter-approved initiative, he thinks it stinks.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>A sneering Eyman was an uninvited guest at Wednesday’s Capitol signing ceremony, and he stood behind Gregoire to hold his nose and give a thumbs-down sign.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>“You must behave,” she told him during the impromptu photo opportunity that rattled Democrats and others watching the bill-signing ceremony.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Gregoire signed the bill just days after the Legislature approved the measure, and it takes effect immediately.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>“I hope, I expect, the people of the state of Washington will understand we’re in unprecedented times,” she said.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>“[The lawmakers] know what they’re doing is not what the voters want, but they seem darn hellbent to do it anyway,” Eyman said later.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>“Even though we saw it coming, it’s still absolutely galling to watch it actually happen.”<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p>Heated debate<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>The bill spurred two weeks of heated debate in both the House and Senate.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Initiative 960 makes it harder for lawmakers to raise taxes or to close tax exemptions, which is why the Democratic majority needed the suspension.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Budget writers want a mix of spending cuts, tax increases and one-time fixes to fill a $2.8 billion deficit.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>House and Senate Democrats both unveiled budget proposals Tuesday, with the Senate pushing for a temporary sales tax increase and an additional $1-per-pack tax on cigarettes, and closing numerous tax exemptions.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>House Democrats have not yet released the revenue-raising part of their budget proposal, though they are expected to do so by the end of the week.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Gregoire said extra revenue is needed this year to prevent further cuts to state programs for vulnerable populations, like the elderly or those with special needs.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>While she’d like to avoid higher taxes, Gregoire said “the fact of the matter is I think that would be an immoral budget, a budget I couldn’t live with.”<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>“At the end of the day, I have to do not only what my head says but what my values are,” she said.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p \/>\n<p>2007 initiative<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>The Eyman-sponsored initiative, approved by voters in 2007, requires two-thirds approval from legislators to raise taxes — a significant hurdle compared with the simple majority needed to pass other measures.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>The bill signed by Gregoire would pause most of the initiative’s provisions until July 2011, when the next two-year budget cycle begins.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Lawmakers can amend initiatives with a simple majority vote after they’ve been on the books for two years, making this the first legislative session that Democrats can suspend I-960 with their current majorities.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>Eyman hovered behind Gregoire’s chair as she signed the bill, shaking his head several times and looking exasperated.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>He got his picture taken with Gregoire after the signing, at first posing holding his nose and giving a thumbs down sign, then getting the joking “you behave” reprimand from Gregoire.<\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p>________<\/p>\n<p \/>PDN news partner KOMO-TV and The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peninsula Daily News news sources OLYMPIA — If you ask Tim Eyman what he thinks about Gov. Chris Gregoire signing into law a measure to temporarily suspend the tax-limiting constraints placed on lawmakers by Eyman’s voter-approved initiative, he thinks it stinks. A sneering Eyman was an uninvited guest at Wednesday’s Capitol signing ceremony, and he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-111214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111214"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peninsuladailynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=111214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}