Inside the editorial page

What's on the minds of TNT editorial writers

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Posted by Kim Bradford @ 11:30:23 am

This is a side note to the heart of the debate over state lawmakers' attempt to roll a bunch of fee increases into one bill, but I can't let it pass.

Tim Eyman (whose Initiative 960 makes legislative approval of fee increases an issue) claims that voting on a package of increases violates the "spirit" of I-960. How rich.

It's not like the idea for this maneuver originated in the halls of the Capitol. No, it came straight from supporters of Eyman's tax-limiting measure who pooh-poohed allegations that I-960 would be too onerous.

The conservative Washington Policy Center – whose supportive three-part series on I-960 was widely cited by Eyman himself — suggested last fall:

While requiring legislative approval of all fee increases would increase legislative oversight and workload, one possible remedy would be to streamline the process by using omnibus bills that include many fee increases at once.

By doing this, legislative approval would still occur for all fee increases, but rather than considering a separate bill and taking a separate vote on each proposed increase, the legislature could combine them into one bill and one vote per agency. This is how lawmakers handled the wide range of tax increases they imposed in 2005, using one bill. The amendment process could be used to add or remove fee increases or to adjust the dollar amount of an increase.

Categories: Taking notice • 1 comment

COMMENTS:

Comment by jmercier @ 12:09 - Monday, March 10th, 2008

Thanks for mentioning our objective I-960 study. As noted, I don’t see any conflict with I-960 and using omnibus fee bills. It is disturbing, however, that the required 10-yr cost projection wasn’t published before the hearing and committee action on the bill. The tradeoff for rolling all the fees into on bill should be the larger cost projection being part of the public debate. Though one omnibus fee bill is not prohibited, it would be preferable to have multiple omnibus fee bills separated by agency instead of just one for all fee increases so that a more informed and transparent debate could occur on the proposed increases.

One thing to keep an eye on though is if the legislature tries via the budget to delegate the authority to raise fees. This would be in conflict with I-960 and basically would revert back to the previous system of inserting blanket line item provisos for agencies to increase fees at will without legislative approval for each increase as required by I-960. Of course, if this is what lawmakers want they could amend I-960 with a 2/3 vote but that would be counter to what the people just asked for – legislative approval for all fees increases.

Comments are not allowed from anonymous visitors. Please login or register to comment.

Inside the editorial page

Inside the editorial page

This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Executive Editor David Zeeck.

Contributing bloggers

Chief editorial writer Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.

Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in July after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.