King votes against bill to nullify taxpayer protection law

The Washington State Senate on Tuesday passed Senate Bill 6843, which would suspend a key provision of the taxpayer protection law created by Initiative 960. SB 6843 would repeal the two-thirds legislative vote requirement for final passage of any tax increase bill until July 1, 2011, which covers the 2010 and 2011 legislative sessions.

Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, said the bill is a slap in the face to taxpayers.

“This bill passed out of the Senate Ways and Means committee and was up for a floor vote in a very short amount of time,” King said. “In no way did the majority party try to give the public enough time to comment on this bill before bringing it up for a vote. My constituents had no time to be notified and come to Olympia to share their opinions on this bill.”

The original bill was amended today to remove many of the proposed tax changes, while keeping the removal of the two-thirds majority requirement. King says the original bill went well beyond simply suspending the taxpayer protection law which I-960 created, adding that the first version of the bill would have made state government even less transparent than it is now.

“Although I’m pleased that majority Democrats saw the light at the eleventh hour and removed much of this bill’s offensive provisions, I still believe that raising taxes on our overtaxed citizens in this economy is a recipe for disaster,” King said. “State government needs to learn to live within its means and the passage of this bill, in any form, constitutes a sad day for the Washington taxpayer.”