Adams Co. printing costs could double

OLYMPIA - Tim Eyman, who is a proponent of reducing taxes, offered an initiative in 2007, which will cost taxpayers more money with unclear results.

The Secretary of State's office announced earlier this week that voters will have two more measures to "decide" on November's general ballot.

And "decide" is used in the loosest of terms: with no legal potential to change laws.

Voters will have a chance to weigh in on two Legislature-approved bills: 2012's House Bill 2590 and Senate Bill 6635.

The eleventh-hour ballot changes are due to Initiative 960, which voters approved five years ago.

The initiative required a supermajority of the state Legislature, or two-thirds, to agree before enacting tax increases, which both bills have been deemed to do.

It also required a public advisory vote should a measure pass, with unknown political heft to the outcome.

These are the first such measures to appear on a ballot in this capacity, and they're casting a financial ripple through state and county government agencies.

Adams County Elections Administrator Heidi Hunt called the ballot change the straw that broke the camel's back.

"It could potentially double the cost for us," she said, as more measures on a ballot require longer forms.

During 2011's general election, Adams County spent $4,000 on ballot printing.

And because Adams County is required to print bilingual ballots, it's looking like the auditor's office will likely have to print two ballot pages.

"It's not going to make it any easier on the voters to receive two ballots," she said.

Other counties mandating multi-lingual ballots are Franklin, Yakima and King counties.

"It adds a last-minute wrinkle to preparing the voters' pamphlets," state Secretary of State Communications Director David Ammons said.

He estimates additional costs upwards of $100,000 to the secretary's office to make the pamphlet updates.

And any of the additional costs incurred may not even hold political sway.

"Presumably the Legislature will not reverse their stance, but I can't say for sure if they will," Ammons said. "But certainly the Legislature pays attention to public votes."

A prime example is Initiative 695, a 1999 voter-approved initiative that lowered licensing tag fees to a flat rate of $30.

The law was eventually deemed unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court, but legislators later enacted it into law.

Whether or not the current measures will receive similar fates remains to be seen.

House Bill 2590 was passed all but unanimously in both chambers, with one nay coming from the state House of Representatives.

The bill deals with a petroleum tax that pays for a state program that deals with underground storage tanks.

Senate Bill 6635 had a more lopsided vote - 35-10 in the Senate, 74-24 in the House - but still achieved the necessary bicameral two-thirds vote to pass.

It deals with tax preferences that large, out-of-state banks receive for in-state mortgages.

"Neither of these are simple," Ammons said. "But those were the two actions the Legislature took that the Attorney General said triggers the advisory provisions.

Ballots for military and overseas voters should be mailed by Sept. 22, while general ballots are to be sent by Oct. 19.

Primary ballots are due this coming Tuesday. Results will shape the general ballot for state races and an Adams County Commissioner seat, as well as determine the Adams County Prosecutor race.

Other measure appearing on the November ballot - that the public will actually decide - include:

• Referendum 74, which would affirm or reject new legislation permitting civil marriage for same-sex couples
• Initiative 1240, which would authorize up to 40 charter schools in Washington over the next five years
• Initiative to the Legislature 502, which would decriminalize marijuana for those 18 and over
• Two state Constitutional amendments, one dealing with stricter limits on use of bond debt for state projects, the other with investments by the University of Washington and Washington State University
• Initiative 1185, another Eyman initiative to continue the requirement of a two-thirds Legislative vote for increasing taxes without a vote of the people; Washington voters have approved similar measures four times prior, but the state Constitution allows the Legislature to amend, suspend or abolish initiatives two years after adoption (much like they did with I-960 in 2010).