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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Olympia

A big controversy that’s going nowhere, for now…

Among the nearly dozen ballot measures filed this year by Tim Eyman and his ballot measure associates, Spokane's Mike and Jack Fagan, is one that Eyman's calling "The Civil Rights Act." Unlike most of Eyman's measures, this one doesn't target taxes.

Initiative 914 would ban racial, gender, nationality or other preferences and would include private schools, employers and other non-government organizations.

Eyman, however, says that the proposal is just the ballot measure equivalent of a trial balloon.

"We file several times, we find out what we're dealing with," he said. "We love the free legal advice from the (state) code reviser's office...It's an invaluable research and development opportunity for us. At this point, it's like `Can you do it? Is it legal?'"

He said he's focused on his main initiative, I-917, requiring $30 license-plate tabs.

"I think for this year, it's $30 car tabs," he said.




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