Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs accomplished something this month that lawmakers could not do the past two decades: increase the filing fee for an initiative.

This month the cost rose from $5 each, a sum set more than a century ago, to $156, the amount adjusted for inflation. Future hikes will be tied to the federal inflation rate. In recent years, filings of initiatives – which can go to the Legislature or voters – have soared, driving up costs for the state, even as many of the measures are never seriously pursued, Hobbs said.

When an initiative is filed, staff of the secretary of state, attorney general, and code reviser offices are required to process and prepare it to be circulated by signature gatherers. Those expenses are borne by taxpayers.

“The participatory democracy of filing ballot measures is an important facet of our state government’s structure, but keeping the fee artificially low has problematic ripple effects,” Hobbs said in a statement.

“The outdated fee structure may have made that a low-cost exercise for the filers,” he added.

The price change is in effect now for initiatives to the Legislature, the filing of which began this month. The cost adjustment for initiatives to the people and referendum measures will take effect in January because the period to start submitting those got underway earlier this year.

‘Elections…aren’t free’

Hobbs’ action could cramp the style of initiative promoter Tim Eyman and other prolific filers of measures that never make it onto petitions or a ballot. These folks submit numerous versions in search of a number or ballot title – which the attorney general’s office crafts – that they think will improve chances of passage.

Hobbs, a Democrat, said when he launched his effort last June, he wanted to curb such practices. A public hearing was held Feb. 6 and changes, which include a higher fee and a new system of randomly assigning numbers, took effect March 9. The $5 fee had been in place since 1913.

Andrew Villeneuve, founder of the Northwest Progressive Institute, testified at the hearing in support of the increase. He’s pushed for such change for more than a decade, a period in which Villeneuve also worked to defeat Eyman-backed measures.

“Elections are a public service just like highways, transit, parks, libraries, policing, and fire protection – they aren’t free,” he said in an email. “The updated filing fee obligates sponsors to provide the same level of financial support for their initiative filings that sponsors in the 1910s had to provide.”

Villeneuve started sounding the alarm as Eyman cranked up his annual number of filings that went nowhere. While Democratic lawmakers introduced bills to boost the fee dating back to 2007, none ever came close to passing.

‘The people’s initiative process’

It’s no longer just Eyman cranking out multiple versions of a measure.

Last year, state Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, proved prodigious, filing 69 initiatives to the Legislature. Six were circulated and garnered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in November. The Legislature wound up enacting three and will let voters decide the fate of the others.

He turned in five versions of one measure the Legislature adopted concerning the ability of parents of public school children to access certain information from schools. Walsh filed 10 takes of one to repeal the capital gains tax that will go to voters.

Filing those 69 initiatives cost  “a mere $345 for the lot,” Villeneuve said. “If Walsh wants to go ballot title shopping again this year, he’d have to pay $10,764 in filing fees to cover the costs for processing sixty-nine initiatives.”

Walsh said while it’s not going to affect him, “it certainly isn’t respecting the people’s initiative process.”

Eyman is pushing back. On March 12, he wrote Hobbs, contending the change was not legal.

“Therefore, for my initiatives that’ll be filed tomorrow morning, your office must accept them with the legislature-defined amount of $5 per initiative,” he wrote. “If that does not happen, you will force me to file a lawsuit against you and your office.”

Eyman did file two measures last week and paid the required $312, according to an official with the Secretary of State’s Office.

“For decades, I have committed myself to ensuring the process stays available for everyone NOW but just as important to me is protecting the process for the next generation of initiative activists,” Eyman said Tuesday.

Hobbs said he doesn’t foresee the increase impeding anyone’s ability to use the initiative process. Those serious about using the ballot to pass policy will almost certainly have access to resources to cover the $156 cost, he said.

“This is not a barrier whatsoever,” he said.

— By Jerry Cornfield, Washington State Standard

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