Tipping the balance in favor of fairness

OLYMPIA – Stripping an 80 year-old provision in the constitution has long been a top priority for the state’s education community. Educators believe the local school levy rules are unfair to students.

This week, state Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, helped tip the balance in favor fairness by voting to pass a measure that puts the question of school levies onto the statewide ballot this November.

“For almost fifteen years, a small minority in the Legislature was able to torpedo this effort,” said Oemig. “I don’t know why a majority of people would want to give up their power to the minority. The Legislature has finally given the power back to the people to decide how they want to manage this issue.”

The logjam was cleared with the 2006 election, according to Oemig.

“The House of Representatives had a strong track record of passing simple majority,” said Oemig. “In the Senate, there’s been decent support, but getting the necessary 33 votes has been such a challenge the bill usually died without a vote. Picking up six seats in the Senate in November gave us the votes needed to finally pass this thing.”

Oemig noted that his opponent in the 2006 election was a consistent “no” vote on the issue while in the House.

“If any one of the 6 new freshman Democrats hadn’t been elected, simple majority would have failed again,” said Oemig. “Voters made the difference on this.”

And they’ll have a chance to make it again.

“Voters will have the final say,” said Oemig. “The Legislature’s passage of House Joint Resolution 4204 bought an opportunity for the people of Washington to vote on whether on not we should give the power back to the majority. That opportunity comes in November. Ironically, only a simple majority of voters needs to approve the resolution.”

HJR 4204 was approved by the 49 member Senate without a vote to spare on Thursday. It was approved by the House of Representatives in early March.

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