(WA) Legislative abuse of the emergency clause continues

Evergreen Freedom Foundation ^ | 5-16-07

[truth49]

OLYMPIA—Today the Evergreen Freedom Foundation released a report on the use of the “emergency clause” during the 2007 Washington Legislative Session. A bill with an emergency clause goes into effect immediately after it is signed by the governor and prevents citizens from running a referendum on the bill. According to the Washington Constitution, this device should only be used when the law is “necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions.”

The report analyzes how legislators used the emergency clause this session and how Governor Gregoire responded. Key findings include:

Thirteen percent of the bills sent to the governor included an emergency clause (73 out of 524).

Governor Gregoire vetoed nearly a dozen emergency clauses, including those attached to several controversial bills, yet failed to remove it from at least one contentious bill that was clearly not an emergency.

One potential fix was proposed to the legislature, but didn’t make it out of committee.

Jonathan Bechtle, Director of EFF’s Citizenship and Governance Center and author of the report, concluded, “After analyzing the actions of the governor, legislature and state supreme court on this issue, it’s clear that the only way to protect the right of referendum long-term is to pass a constitutional amendment requiring a supermajority vote on bills that include an emergency clause.”

http://www.effwa.org/files/pdf/EmergencyClause.pdf.