Court won’t fast-track I-960 challenge

OLYMPIA – The state Supreme Court won’t speed up its ruling in a top lawmaker’s challenge of voter-approved tax limits, putting a major kink in any Democratic hopes of an easier path toward tax increases next year.

In a brief ruling issued Thursday, the court unanimously denied Sen. Lisa Brown’s request to rule immediately on her lawsuit against a pair of tax-limiting initiatives.

The court also rejected Brown’s alternate request to rule before the next legislative session convenes in January 2009.

The Democrat-controlled Legislature is facing a possible deficit in the two-year budget that will be written next year, and lawmakers would need to raise money or cut spending to fill any shortfall.

The initiatives in question could make it tougher to erase any deficit, because they require approval from two-thirds of the Legislature to raise taxes.

That degree of support is difficult to get for higher taxes, even though Democrats outnumber tax-wary Republicans in both the House and Senate.

Brown, D-Spokane, filed the lawsuit Monday, hoping to junk the two-thirds approval requirements, which were approved in 1993’s Initiative 601 and broadened in last year’s I-960.

Brown and other critics say those limits on tax increases are illegal, because the state constitution calls for a simple majority to pass most bills, and the constitution can’t be amended by initiative.

Brown did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Thursday.

Senate GOP budget chief Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, said he was pleased to hear the court denied a faster review of Brown’s lawsuit.

Zarelli said the court’s order avoids the appearance of political pressure on the justices, and essentially tells Brown: “Hey, we know who you are. But there are other people who have gone through the process, and get in line.”

“(Brown) should be treated no differently than anybody else with regard to the court, so I’m happy to see that,” Zarelli said.

Initiative promoter Tim Eyman, who sponsored I-960 last fall, called Brown’s request ridiculous and said he was thrilled with Thursday’s ruling by the court.