Gregoire calls special session on property taxes
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Gov. Chris Gregoire has called for a one-day special legislative session to reinstate a 1 percent property tax increase cap recently struck down by the state Supreme Court.
Gregoire sent a letter to House and Senate leaders Monday night, telling them the Nov. 29 special session is necessary because she is "very concerned about the effects of the court's decision on the property taxpayers across the state."
"The citizens of our state expect that we will expeditiously deal with this subject, and this subject only, to give them certainty about their property tax bills for the upcoming year," Gregoire wrote.
Lawmakers also will consider a bill that would offer property tax deferrals for families under the state median income level.
Gregoire's announcement followed a day of meetings with House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. Lawmakers are already scheduled to be in town for committee hearings next week.
Washington voters approved Initiative 747 in 2001 to prevent various levels of government from bumping up property taxes more than 1 percent per year. Before I-747 and a predecessor tax-cap initiative, the limit on annual property tax hikes was 6 percent.
Earlier in the day, Chopp said he'd been polling majority House Democrats about keeping the property tax cap at 1 percent and "generally, people were supportive."
"Our intent is to go in there and reinstate it," he said. "I believe the voters knew what they were doing. The voters were clear about their decision. We should respect that."
Gregoire was under increasing pressure to call a special session since the high court ruled earlier this month that I-747 was unconstitutional, largely on technical grounds.
Gregoire had asked for a voluntary statewide moratorium on increasing property taxes past the 1 percent limit until the issue could be taken up in the next legislative session that begins in January. But in spite of the governor's request, some local officials said they were considering property tax increases above the cap.
Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, noted that Republicans first called for a special session more than a year ago, after a King County judge first ruled the measure was unconstitutional.
"I'm very happy that they're responding to what we saw a year ago as a priority," he said.
Gregoire's Republican challenger for re-election, Dino Rossi, has called for the special session since soon after the high court threw out I-747. Republican lawmakers and the initiative's sponsor, Tim Eyman, also have been pressuring her.
"We want to get this fixed for the taxpayers of Washington state," said House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis. "We have to do what we can do to make sure the will of the voters is kept intact."
Rossi, who barely lost to Gregoire in 2004, said the governor's "slow reaction on this issue is yet another example of her lack of leadership."
"I'm glad she has called the special session because we need to protect the will of the voters," Rossi said. "But I have a feeling she only took this step out of political expediency, not concern for the taxpayers."
Eyman said that lawmakers must restore the limit exactly as the original initiative did.
"They can't have loopholes in it, they can't have exemptions in it," he said. "It has to be across the board 1 percent."
If the Democratic-controlled Legislature follows that recipe, he said, "there's enough credit to go around."
House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, agreed.
"This is totally an isolated, clear chore we need to do," Kessler said. "Let's just do it and get it over with."
Calling the special session is a politically risky move for the first-term Democratic governor, who faces a tough rematch next year with Rossi.
If it lasts much more than one day, Gregoire and the Democrats who control the Legislature could look weak and indecisive.
But there was a powerful force pushing her to take that risk: the results of the Nov. 6 statewide election, which revealed a jittery, anti-tax mood when voters rejected billions of dollars in transportation projects and endorsed Eyman's latest anti-tax measure, among other things.
"All those jittery voters need a little calm in their lives, and this would add some sense of calm," Kessler said.
Gregoire sent a letter to House and Senate leaders Monday night, telling them the Nov. 29 special session is necessary because she is "very concerned about the effects of the court's decision on the property taxpayers across the state."
"The citizens of our state expect that we will expeditiously deal with this subject, and this subject only, to give them certainty about their property tax bills for the upcoming year," Gregoire wrote.
Lawmakers also will consider a bill that would offer property tax deferrals for families under the state median income level.
Gregoire's announcement followed a day of meetings with House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. Lawmakers are already scheduled to be in town for committee hearings next week.
Washington voters approved Initiative 747 in 2001 to prevent various levels of government from bumping up property taxes more than 1 percent per year. Before I-747 and a predecessor tax-cap initiative, the limit on annual property tax hikes was 6 percent.
Earlier in the day, Chopp said he'd been polling majority House Democrats about keeping the property tax cap at 1 percent and "generally, people were supportive."
"Our intent is to go in there and reinstate it," he said. "I believe the voters knew what they were doing. The voters were clear about their decision. We should respect that."
Gregoire was under increasing pressure to call a special session since the high court ruled earlier this month that I-747 was unconstitutional, largely on technical grounds.
Gregoire had asked for a voluntary statewide moratorium on increasing property taxes past the 1 percent limit until the issue could be taken up in the next legislative session that begins in January. But in spite of the governor's request, some local officials said they were considering property tax increases above the cap.
Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, noted that Republicans first called for a special session more than a year ago, after a King County judge first ruled the measure was unconstitutional.
"I'm very happy that they're responding to what we saw a year ago as a priority," he said.
Gregoire's Republican challenger for re-election, Dino Rossi, has called for the special session since soon after the high court threw out I-747. Republican lawmakers and the initiative's sponsor, Tim Eyman, also have been pressuring her.
"We want to get this fixed for the taxpayers of Washington state," said House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis. "We have to do what we can do to make sure the will of the voters is kept intact."
Rossi, who barely lost to Gregoire in 2004, said the governor's "slow reaction on this issue is yet another example of her lack of leadership."
"I'm glad she has called the special session because we need to protect the will of the voters," Rossi said. "But I have a feeling she only took this step out of political expediency, not concern for the taxpayers."
Eyman said that lawmakers must restore the limit exactly as the original initiative did.
"They can't have loopholes in it, they can't have exemptions in it," he said. "It has to be across the board 1 percent."
If the Democratic-controlled Legislature follows that recipe, he said, "there's enough credit to go around."
House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, agreed.
"This is totally an isolated, clear chore we need to do," Kessler said. "Let's just do it and get it over with."
Calling the special session is a politically risky move for the first-term Democratic governor, who faces a tough rematch next year with Rossi.
If it lasts much more than one day, Gregoire and the Democrats who control the Legislature could look weak and indecisive.
But there was a powerful force pushing her to take that risk: the results of the Nov. 6 statewide election, which revealed a jittery, anti-tax mood when voters rejected billions of dollars in transportation projects and endorsed Eyman's latest anti-tax measure, among other things.
"All those jittery voters need a little calm in their lives, and this would add some sense of calm," Kessler said.
Learn about changes coming to commenting