Bid to repeal gas-tax hike finds way onto fall ballot

OLYMPIA – Gas tax critics on Monday won a ballot spot for an initiative to overturn the Legislature’s gas-tax hike of 9.5 cents a gallon over the next four years.

The tax increase is the main foundation of a 16-year, $8.5 billion transportation program for mega-projects like the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the 520 Lake Washington bridge, road improvements, ferries and mass transit.

The first 3 pennies were added on July 1, bringing the state tax to 30 cents a gallon. Automatic annual increases also were authorized: 3 cents in July 2006; 2 cents a year later; and a final 1.5 cents in July 2008.

Backers of Initiative 912 were notified Monday that, as expected, they easily qualified for the statewide November ballot. The plan would erase the gas-tax hikes, but not weight fees – $10 a year for most cars – and assorted license fees.

Secretary of State Sam Reed said a random check of 3 percent of the 400,996 signatures submitted by the proponents showed that sponsors easily topped the 224,880 minimum required for a ballot spot. The error rate, including multiple or invalid signatures, was about 14 percent.

It was the third and final citizen initiative to earn a ballot slot. Others are Tim Eyman’s 2005 initiative, I-900, expanding the state’s new performance audit program, and I-901, to expand the state’s indoor smoking ban in public places.

Voters also will decide on two measures that were forwarded to the ballot by the Legislature. They are rival initiatives dealing with medical malpractice and lawsuit reform.