Suit seeks to block anti-tax measure from Washington ballot

OLYMPIA – Opponents of Tim Eyman’s latest anti-tax initiative are suing to keep the measure off the November ballot.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, comes a day after Initiative 1366 qualified for the ballot, the Seattle Times reported.

The suit argues the measure oversteps the powers granted to the citizen initiative process. Washington’s Constitution cannot be amended by a citizen initiative, so I-1366 attempts to pressure lawmakers into sending a constitutional amendment to the 2016 ballot that would reinstate a two-thirds legislative majority to raise taxes. Under the measure, if the Legislature doesn’t act, the state’s 6.5-cent state sales tax would increase by a penny.

Previous voter-approved initiatives required that supermajority vote, but the state Supreme Court struck that requirement down in 2013, saying it was unconstitutional.

The lawsuit was filed in King County Superior Court by a coalition including Democratic state legislators, parents of public schoolchildren and social-services advocates. Eyman says voters should have the right to debate the issue.