Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday doubled down on his efforts to make sure a new bridge over the Columbia River along I-5 includes a light-rail component. Meanwhile, a citizens’ group from Vancouver filed a lawsuit on the same day to prevent city money from being used on the project.

Both sides of the heated debate over a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River on the Washington-Oregon border drew a line in the sand on Thursday.

In Olympia, Gov. Jay Inslee signed an $8.7 billion transportation bill but vetoed a provision in the package that would have allocated $81 million to keep the Columbia River Crossing’s planning office afloat should an alternate bridge design be needed.

By vetoing the funding, Inslee is, in effect, telling the Legislature that only the current plan — which includes a controversial light-rail component linking Portland’s Tri-Met line with Vancouver — will be considered.

Washington state lawmakers are currently in the second week of a special session called by Inslee when no agreement on a two-year budget could be reached in the 105 days allotted for the regular legislative session. Among the other items on the table during the special session is a gas tax increase, which would generate a projected $450 million for the CRC project.

If the tax is voted down, however, the state could lose $800 million in promised federal funding — money contingent on inclusion of light rail — and the entire $3.4 billion bridge project could potentially be scrapped.

Inslee is gambling lawmakers will approve the unpopular gas tax hike rather than risk having no bridge at all built.

“The reality is starting to come home,” he said, “and I think this veto may sharpen legislators’ minds about the current state of reality. We have to have a reality-based plan across the Columbia River, and if this veto helps them awaken to the reality, that would be great.”

Meanwhile, opponents of the bridge on Thursday filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing the Vancouver City Council from using municipal resources to aid the project.

A ballot initiative to that effect was attempted a year ago, but city officials, who are in favor of the bridge,  kept it off the November 2012 ballot by disqualifying hundreds of duplicate signatures — as well as the originals — on petitions turned in to the Clark County Auditor.

The move left the measure just a few signatures short of the number of the number needed to qualify, but a subsequent lawsuit resulted in a ruling last month that while duplicate signatures can be tossed out, the originals must be counted. Using that standard a year ago, the initiative would have qualified easily.

Before that ruling could be issued, however, the Vancouver City Council passed a resolution saying it wouldn’t put the measure on the ballot in any case, since the bridge is a joint project of Washington and Oregon, as well as the federal government, and the city lacked the authority to stop it.

Thursday’s lawsuit, filed by Everett attorney Steve Pidgeon, would compel the city to put the measure on the November 2013 ballot regardless of the council’s objections.

“The city has argued that (the initiative) seeks to ‘appropriate money’ in violation of … the Vancouver City Charter,” the lawsuit notes. “As a matter of pure definition, (the initiative) does not appropriate money. Quite the contrary; it requires the city to not appropriate money.”

Pidgeon and the plaintiffs who filed the suit say the initiative seeks to:

• define certain words and terms in the proposed ordinance;
• prohibit the city from promoting or establishing the extension of light rail across the Columbia River into the city of Vancouver; and,
• prevent the city from using public funds to promote the extension or establishment of light rail.

Since these policies are legislative in nature, the city should be required to place the entire proposal on the ballot, they say.

“The city may not like the policy,” the lawsuit asserts, “but (it) cannot credibly argue it is unclear. Quite the contrary, the policies’ clarity is exactly the reason the city opposes the initiative.”

A ruling in the case is expected by the Clark County District Court well before the Aug. 6 deadline for ballot measures to be included in the November general election ballot.

A Washington senator has proposed a plan by which the state could become a right-to-work state — as Michigan did last fall — in order to keep Boeing from locating production for the next generation of its 777 jetliner elsewhere.

For The Olympia Report

Sen. Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) on Wednesday announced a strategy that would help Washington retain and grow thousands of Boeing aerospace jobs by introducing legislation to make Washington a right-to-work state if worker’s compensation insurance rates continue to increase.

Baumgartner, who serves on the Senate Trade and Economic Development Committee, said the effort to ensure Boeing’s next generation 777 airliner is built in Washington requires actual steps to make the state’s aerospace industry more competitive, not platitudes and press conferences.

Michael Baumgartner

“It’s very clear that Boeing is choosing to expand into states that have more competitive labor environments, and that right-to-work states like South Carolina have a significant potential advantage,” said Baumgartner, who noted that over the last decade right-to-work states have seen 9 percent higher growth in manufacturing than other states, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

“Washington is a hub of aerospace,” he said, “and it’s clear that too many of our elected leaders aren’t taking real steps to keep it that way.”

Baumgartner’s proposed right-to-work bill would secure the right of employees to decide for themselves whether or not to join a union and make the paying of union dues optional.

“Every individual should have both the right to join a union and the right not to join a union should they so choose,” Baumgartner added. “It’s about basic human freedom.”

Under Baumgartner’s proposed legislation, Washington would become a right-to-work state if the state Department of Labor and Industries’ workers’ compensation insurance rates continue to increase.

“Boeing is a big enough company to self-insure for worker’s compensation, but many of its suppliers in our state are being crushed under the weight of ever-increasing L&I rates,” noted Baumgartner, who also supports comprehensive reform of the state’s workers’ compensation system. “If we’re going to attract and grow quality aerospace jobs in this state, we need to give them some relief.

“Michigan recently became the 24th right-to-work state,” Baumgartner continued, “and making Washington the 25th will help retain and create great aerospace-industry jobs and provide millions in new funding for other priorities like K-12 education through economic growth.”

Washington State Lt. Gov. Brad Owen said on Thursday one possible solution for the difference of opinion over the budget that’s made necessary a 30-special session would be for Democrats to stop extending the courtesy of a proxy vote to ailing GOP Sen. Mike Carrell.

“At some point … you might have to say enough is enough,” Owen said during an interview on TVW.

Democrats currently outnumber Republicans in the Senate 26 votes to 23, but during the 2013 session a pair of fiscally conservative Democrats have joined with the GOP to form a so-called Majority Caucus, which outnumbers Democrats 25-24.

Carrell, however, has been absent for much of the session as he deals with a blood disorder this spring while waiting for a bone marrow transplant. As a courtesy to the longtime Republican lawmaker, Hoquiam Democrat Jim Hargrove has cast a proxy vote for Carrell.

As a courtesy to longtime GOP Sen. Mike Carrell, above, who is suffering from a blood disorder, his proxy vote has been cast during this session by Democrat Jim Hargrove. But Democratic Secretary of State Brad Owen believes it may be time to rescind that privilege — enabling him to beak tie votes in a Senate left with a 24-24 party split.

However, if negotiations get sticky during the 30-special session scheduled to begin on Monday, Owen — a Democrat — believes the courtesy should be dropped.

In such a case, if Carrell is too ill to travel to Olympia and vote, the Senate would be deadlocked 24-24.

And Owen, who presides over the Senate, would have the right to cast the deciding vote.

“I do believe Sen. Hargrove needs to say, ‘Look, if you folks aren’t willing to compromise, I’m not willing to do this anymore,’ ” Owen said. “That’s what I would counsel.

“Sen. Hargrove is a very honorable person,” Owen said, “and what he’s doing is commendable … but it could happen that someone crosses over and makes it 24-24. In which case I certainly would step in and vote.”

Hargrove has given no indication he would agree to make Carrell’s illness a negotiating point, and Owen made clear he was speaking only for himself. But following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this spring on Initiative 1053, the Legislature is no longer required to pass tax increases by a two-thirds majority.
And with the Democrat-dominated House of Representatives convinced the state needs new revenue while the Majority Caucus remains dead set against any tax increase, Owen argues it may take hardball politics to break the logjam.

“I think that would have happened a lot more this session if the (Majority Coalition) wasn’t holding its members so tight,” Owen said.

Port Orchard Republican Rep. Jan Angel is taking advantage of the two-week lull between the end of the regular session and the start of the special session to campaign in earnest for the 26th District’s Senate seat. With the Senate so evenly divided, what would ordinarily be an obscure, off-year special election will have huge implications for the state.

Twenty-sixth District Rep. Jan Angel wasted no time transitioning from governing to campaign mode on Monday, launching her active bid to claim the Senate seat left vacant in November when Gig Harbor Democrat Derek Kilmer was elected to Congress, succeeding longtime U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks.

Incumbent candidates are banned from raising money while the Legislature is in session, but Angel sent out an e-mail message to supporters early Monday — just hours after the regular, 105-day session adjourned and before lawmakers are scheduled to return on May 13 for a special session to hammer out a two-year operating budget.

“This week marks the official start of my campaign,” the Port Orchard Republican wrote. “Now that the regular legislative session is over I can ask you to donate to my Senate campaign.

“As a 26th District state representative,” Angel continued, “I put the constituents’ voices first in a number of key bills and resolutions. My priorities have been and continue to be creating jobs through promoting a business-friendly environment, building our future through education and keeping our district moving, healthy and safe. I believe that I can further advance these goals in the state Senate.”

Angel, midway through her third term in the Legislature after two terms as a Kitsap County commissioner, has never made any secret of her intentions to seek the Senate seat eventually and, when Kilmer announced his bid for Congress, she immediately served notice she planned to move up.

Knowing she didn’t intend to serve out her full two-year term in the House apparently didn’t phase 26th District voters, who re-elected her with more than 60 percent of the vote in November.

The district’s Democrats, meanwhile, appointed Gig Harbor emergency room physician Nathan Schlicher to serve the final year of Kilmer’s term, and he will be seeking the seat outright this fall. It isn’t clear whether any other candidates will join those two in the race.

In any case, with the Senate so evenly divided, this is more than an off-year election to fill one obscure seat. Currently, Democrats outnumber Republicans 26-23 in the Senate, but Republicans are able to wield considerable power anyway because a pair of fiscally conservative Democrats have opted to side with the GOP to form a so-called Majority Caucus.

A victory by Angel, however, would trim the Democrats’ margin to 25-24 and bring a true majority within reach in 2014.

“I’m running to help make sure our citizens have a good quality of life and can well provide for their families through good jobs and strong employment,” Angel wrote on her campaign’s website. “Good jobs and strong businesses are the foundation to economic prosperity through increased competitiveness and innovation. I want to help with good solutions for reform to limit government regulations that are continually imposed upon business. I am also running to help preserve the personal freedoms and the core values of our constitution that I believe we all hold dear.”

Unable to come up with a budget plan that would satisfy Democrats in the House as well as the Senate’s fiscally conservative Majority Coalition, Washington state lawmakers ended their regular 105-day session on Sunday and must now return for a special session slated to begin on May 13.

Gov. Jay Inslee was forced to order a special session of the Washington State Legislature when lawmakers adjourned on Sunday far short of an agreement on a two-year budget.

Republicans had urged the governor to start the extra session on Monday to underscore the urgency of completing the task as soon as possible. Democrats — most of whom believe the budget should include a revenue component — would prefer a break at home to raise money, campaign and gauge their constituents’ appetite for a tax hike.

Inslee, a Democrat, ordered the extra session to begin on May 13.

At a press conference last week, Inslee also made in clear he expected the legislators to address more than fiscal matters in the extra session. With the Senate controlled by the mostly GOP Majority Coalition, Republicans successfully thwarted action during the regular session on a number of bills important to Democrats, including:

• the so-called “Reproductive Parity Act,” which would require that any employer-provided healthcare plan offering maternity coverage also cover abortion services;
• the “DREAM Act,” which would allow illegal aliens who came to the United States as minors to qualify for needs grants and scholarships;
• a gun-control bill, presumably one including universal background checks on all gun purchases; and,
• tougher penalties for repeat drunk-driving offenders.

The Senate, the majority of whose members passed a budget that would have added $1.2 billion to education and continued funding other services at their current levels without a tax increase, announced last week its work was finished and it was just waiting for the House to send over its budget.

That action will have to wait until the middle of next month at the earliest.

Even as the Washington State Legislature races to reconcile diametrically opposing views in the House and Senate regarding education, transportation and the operating budget in time to adjourn by Sunday, Gov. Jay Inslee signaled on Wednesday he still hasn’t given up on several pieces of social legislation that had been presumed dead.

Asked if he would order a special session to address his social priorities even if a budget deal had been reached during the regular session, Inslee said anything was possible.

“I was elected governor, not dictator,” he told reporters at a press briefing in Olympia. “We’re going to try and make progress on all fronts this year, and all of these are things Washingtonians want the Legislature to act on this year.”

Specifically, Inslee said he’s hoping there’s still time to make drunk-driving penalties even more severe in addition to passing a gun-control bill in the wake of the failure of similar legislation in Congress already this year.

Even more improbably, Inslee is still pushing a measure that would require all employer-provided health insurance plans to include abortion services as well as the so-called “Dream Act,” which would allow illegal aliens who came to this country as minors to compete for needs-based college scholarships.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee wouldn’t dismiss the possibility of ordering state lawmakers back for a special session to consider his social legislation — including tougher DUI penalties — even if they do manage to agree on a budget deal by Sunday.

“I do believe strongly and emphatically that we have more responsibility to the public than simply passing budgets,” Inslee said. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure the Legislature and the governor do their jobs.”

Senate Democrats twice last week attempted to force a floor vote on the abortion bill, believing there is enough support to pass the measure, which was tabled in the Republican-led Senate Health Care Committee.

Invoking the controversial Ninth Order — the same parliamentary tactic Republicans employed to pass a GOP budget in last year’s Senate — Democrats sought an up-or-down vote on the abortion bill. But the effort was defeated by the bipartisan Majority Coalition, whose leader, Bellevue Democrat Sen. Rodney Tom, supports the underlying bill but opposes using the Ninth Order to bring it to the floor.

When that attempt failed, Democrats tried to attach the abortion provision to an unrelated insurance bill, but that tactic, too, failed when Tom and Mercer Island Republican Sen. Steve Litzow — who also supports the measure — refused to force a vote by using backdoor tactics.

Inslee refused to speculate about the chances of the Legislature adjourning on time or the final shape of a budget deal.

“There are probably 20 or 30 moving parts in the budget process,” he said. “At this point we’re trying to figure out what everyone’s priorities are and where there is room to negotiate. Reality has begun to set in it’s time to figure out how to merge several separate plans.”

The governor said he was particularly frustrated by the state’s inability to pass what he characterized as “common-sense” gun control measures.

“We’re better than this,” Inslee said. “Just because they can’t do what’s right in the other Washington doesn’t mean we can’t here. If this session adjourns without an agreement on gun regulations, it would be a real shame.”

Inslee said he is working behind the scenes with leaders of both parties in both houses to facilitate agreements on a variety of issues, and that the social issues are part of those discussions.

“These things are certainly related,” he said. “I don’t think our legislators should walk away from their responsibilities. I know I’m not going to; I’m still optimistic about a positive outcome.”

A day after the House Transportation Committee endorsed a laundry list of tax increases to fund new road projects, the House Finance Committee on Tuesday approved an additional $900 million in tax hikes, ostensibly to fund education.

Republicans on the committee, however, refused to concede either that the increases were necessary or that they would benefit education.

“You guys can say all you want that this money is dedicated to education,” Rep. Ed Orcutt (R-Kalama). “But nothing is ever dedicated to anything around here. None of it. We know that, and the public knows it.

“I hear it from the public all the time,” he said. “‘Why are you always raising taxes and claiming it’s for education? Education is your paramount duty, why don’t you fund it first?’ And I would argue that if you have to raise taxes to fund education, it’s the absolute last thing you’re funding.”

“This is the third time you’ve made that point,” snapped Committee Chair Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-Seattle). “And I would make the point that all of the money from this legislation is dedicated to the education legacy trust account for investment in public education.

A Democrat-backed education funding plan calling for numerous tax increases advanced out of the Budget Committee on Tuesday. The measure is likely to pass on the floor later this week before running into stiff opposition in the Senate, whose Majority Coalition is resistant to tax increases.

“I appreciate that you don’t seem to agree that’s true,” he said, “but that is the fact and the reality, and I would appreciate it if you could confine your remarks to the substance of the legislation.”

“The substance of the legislation is that this doesn’t benefit the people it’s supposed to,” Orcutt replied. “We have seen the very fund this money is supposed to be dedicated to raided before.”

House Bill 2038 passed by a vote of 8-5 vote along straight party lines — as did numerous amendments proposed by Republicans designed to either moderate the tax increases or bring more transparency to the process.

The measure would eliminated certain business tax exemptions while extending other taxes set to expire this year. Parts of the original proposal were dropped, including tax extensions on the beer industry, janitors, insurance agents and stevedores.

“Asking everyone to contribute to our quality of life, our quality of education for 1 million students in every community in our state is hard work,” Carlyle said. “It’s tough to do. Closing just a few is hard, but investing in education is essential.”

“We don’t need new taxes to balance our budget,” Orcutt responded. “We’ve got plenty of money for education. If there’s any courage needed, it’s the courage to fund education first and to say no to some other people.”

The bill now heads to the House floor, where it is expected to pass along similarly partisan lines. It’s fate in the Senate, whose Majority Coalition is dead set against imposing any taxes, is far less promising.

State lawmakers have until Sunday to reach agreement on many contentious funding bills if they expect to adjourn the current 105-day session on time.

Washington State’s House Transportation Committee last week passed what its supporters called a bare-bones, no-frills budget. On Monday, the frills were added — as was a funding package to pay for them.

At the heart of the $8.4 billion package was a proposed 10-cent gas tax, along with a proposal to increase various weight fees and increase vehicle registration and title transfer fees.

The revenue package would fund a number of large transportation projects around the state, including the extensions of Highways 167 and 509, a reduction of Interstate 5 congestion near Joint Base Lewis-McChord and add lanes on Interstate 90 at Snoqualmie Pass.

House Democrats passed a transportation package in committee on Monday that includes higher gas taxes, plus an increase in vehicle and driver licensing fees to pay for a wide variety of construction projects.

It would also fund Washington state’s portion of the controversial Columbia River Crossing project that would replace the current bridge linking Vancouver with Portland — while extending the Oregon city’s light rail system across the border.

The measure passed by a 16-13 vote along straight party lines and now moves to the House floor, where the Democratic majority is expected to pass it.

The bill will run into trouble, however, in the Senate, where the bipartisan Majority Coalition is resistant to any new taxes. With the current 105-day session due to end on Sunday, it’s difficult to envision a scenario by which the two bodies can reconcile their differences and pass a unified bill in time to avoid the necessity of a special session.

“We’re going to be moving forward and making sure the economy is creating jobs,” said Transportation Committee chair Judy Clibborn (D-Mercer Island). “I think it’s a perfect time. Even though it does raise taxes and does raise fees, there are going to be places where people can point and say this made a difference in our lives.”

The gas tax would be phased in over four years — 5 cents in the first year, 2 cents in the second and third year and one cent in the fourth year.

Rep. Ed Orcutt (R-Kalama), ranking Republican on the committee, was critical of the package because it did not include sufficient reforms.

“We said right from the beginning of session that in order to do this we are going to need some serious reforms,” he said. “Why are we always higher than any other state on like projects? We are just going to take more money out of the taxpayers’ pockets without making sure we are using the most effective way possible.”

A series of amendments designed to make the Columbia River Crossing project more transparent were adopted by the state Senate on Thursday, clearing the way for the body’s approval of a total transportation package.

For The Olympia Report

A bipartisan agreement regarding the Columbia River Crossing project allowed the Senate Transportation Committee to move forward today with its proposed budget. With 10 days to go in the 2013 legislative session, the budget was being held up by concerns about some $80 million that is designated for the CRC project despite growing controversy surrounding its design.

The breakthrough came with the acceptance of amendments to limit how that allocation could be spent and require a forensic audit of the project, which would replace the two-span Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia between Washington and Oregon.

“This is a big win for the people of Clark County, people across southwest Washington and for our Majority Coalition Caucus,” said Sen Don Benton (R-Vancouver), the Senate’s deputy majority leader. “All of us want a project that meets the needs of commuters, employers, taxpayers and future toll-payers in terms of design, and also doesn’t waste money. (These) amendments are exactly in line with those priorities, and our coalition stood with me to make sure they will be rolled into the budget.”

Don Benton

Benton said one amendment stems from the fact that the CRC project has yet to receive the necessary permits from the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has concerns about how the project would hamper shipping and navigation on the Columbia because including a light-rail track means the replacement bridge would be much closer to the surface of the Columbia River than the bridge it would replace.

The idea, Benton explained, is to hold back about 94 percent of the budget allocation for the CRC until the Coast Guard issues a permit later this year, possibly September.

If the permit is issued then the rest of the money will be released for further planning. If the Coast Guard denies the permit application, the money will have to be used instead for a redesign of the project, to address the Coast Guard’s river-traffic concerns, and for preparing a new environmental impact statement.

“I expect the Coast Guard will ultimately say no, go back to the drawing board — which would be the best possible answer for the people I serve,” Benton said. “The current design is so low that it would kill many thousands of permanent Clark County jobs that depend on ships being able to get upriver.”

Another amendment would direct the bipartisan Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee to conduct a full forensic audit of the CRC project.

“On Friday I was among the leaders of our coalition who called on Gov. Inslee to order a formal investigation of the CRC project, given our concerns about the possibility of fraud, malfeasance and misuse of public funds relating to the 170 million dollars that have already been dropped on the CRC,” Benton said. “If that pressure led to the acceptance of my amendment calling for an audit, then it was well worth it.”

The money in the Senate transportation budget proposal is nowhere near the $450 million sought by the project as Washington’s share of the cost. Benton also succeeded in pursuing an amendment that would prevent Inslee from moving money from other transportation projects over to the CRC, in hopes of coming up with the full amount.

Benton said he hopes to see an amendment that would essentially take away the ability of a contractor on a state transportation project to hide behind public-disclosure exemptions to keep documents away from the public.

“I have reason to believe there’s been a lot of hiding of questionable practices related to the CRC project,” he said. “The forensic audit my amendment requires will uncover what’s already happened; however, we also need to discourage any shenanigans going forward. There’s nothing like knowing its records can be made public to keep a contractor from bending the rules.”

A Cowlitz County judge on Wednesday ruled the city of Vancouver last year inappropriately disqualified signers of a petition that would have authorized a ballot measure on the Columbia River Crossing’s hotly debated light-rail component. The ruling may be too late for Vancouver, but it will stand as a warning to other cities, supporters say.

A long-awaited decision in Cowlitz County Superior Court may or may not result in residents of Vancouver being able to hold a referendum on the controversial Columbia River Crossing project, but it lays down a legal marker for other local governments thinking about disregarding the initiative process.

Superior Court Judge Stephen Warning on Wednesday ruled that Vancouver must accept petitions signed by city residents requesting a ballot measure in opposition to the bridge, even though some of the signatures were found to be duplicates.

Under state law, only the duplicate signatures may be stricken. But for local initiatives, the affected government was permitted to disqualify the original signature, too.

CRC opponents in Vancouver a year ago turned in more than enough petitions to justify a local initiative prohibiting the use of city resources to extend light rail service from Portland to Vancouver as part of the CRC project. City officials, however, disqualified a total of 606 signatures, leaving the effort 32 signatures short.

The decision prompted 75 Vancouver residents — with the backing of Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey — to file a lawsuit.

Warning heard testimony in February, but before issuing a ruling he requested additional time to study the discrepancy between state and local law.

“Based on that analysis,” he said on Wednesday, “I would find (the different rules) unconstitutional and grant the petition.”

The decision could be too little, too late for Vancouver, though, because the city council in March — perhaps fearing Warning would rule against it — declared the project falls outside the scope of the city’s powers and must be kept off the ballot regardless of what the court decided.

Acting on the advice of their legal advisers, the members said the proposed bridge is a joint project of Washington state and Oregon that also includes a federal component if light rail is added to the design. The city has no authority to halt the project, they said, which makes a local ballot initiative pointless.

The city’s stance might also be unconstitutional, but it would take another costly, time-consuming legal challenge to find out — something the grassroots organizers behind the petition may not be able to afford.

“These people have to pay they legal costs out of their own pockets,” initiative author and activist Tim Eyman noted in March. “They don’t have the luxury of sending the bill to the taxpayers.”

Tim Eyman

Eyman, who has been consulting with the Vancouver group — in addition to organizers in several other cities whose ballot measures on issues like prohibiting the installation of red-light cameras were thwarted by similar measures — believes Warning’s decision will have a chilling effect on such maneuvering.

“One of our most cherished rights is the right to vote,” he said. “For initiatives that qualify for the ballot, the people’s right to vote should be honored and respected.”

In the meantime, Eyman is hopeful Wednesday’s action puts the CRC initiative back in play.

“The law mandates that the Vancouver City Council do one of three things with this officially certified initiative — pass it into law, put it on the ballot, or put it and a city-written alternative on the November ballot,” he said. “Those are the only three options the law allows.

“We all know your biases against this particular initiative and your agreement with us that it will be overwhelmingly approved by voters,” Eyman warned the Vancouver council in the wake of Waring’s ruling. “But your opposition to the initiative and your belief that the voters will approve it do not give you the right to violate the law.”