WSLC Executive Board votes to oppose I-1033

THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2009

The Executive Board of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO has voted to oppose Initiative 1033, a measure on this fall's ballot that would restrict government spending in such a way that it would slow Washington state's economic recovery and threaten the state's education and health care systems, as well as other critical public services.

"Our executive board wants to immediately begin explaining to union members the damage that Initiative 1033 would do to the State of Washington," said WSLC President Rick Bender. "This misleading initiative has been a proven failure in other states and couldn't come at a worse time, threatening our state's economic recovery from the national recession."

I-1033, pushed by initiative profiteer Tim Eyman, would impose spending limits on state, city and county governments by forcing revenue above a certain limit to go toward property tax cuts. Among other things, I-1033 would lock into place the drastic legislative budget cuts to our state's schools, health care safety nets, prisons and criminal justice systems, and other critical state services.

According to the No on Initiative 1033 web site:

I-1033 would slow economic recovery and leave us in a permanent recession. This year Washington faced a devastating budget deficit. Unfortunately, I-1033 would lock in this year's budget as our baseline. The worst of times in Washington, would become the best that we can hope for.

I-1033 threatens education and health care. Unemployment is still on the rise, families are being kicked off health care, teachers across the state are being laid off, and nursing homes and hospitals are being forced to reduce their care. As the economy recovers, we could restore funding to these services -- but under I-1033 the current situation would become permanent.

I-1033 is a proven failure. A similar initiative passed in Colorado in 1992. Since then, Colorado's economy has been devastated and funding for services ranging from education, to the judicial system, to health care, and libraries has plummeted. The situation was so critical that in 2005 voters put the law on hold so their state could recover.

Similar initiatives been defeated at the ballot in Maine, Nebraska, Oregon and most recently California -- and they've been blocked from the ballot in Ohio, Missouri, Oklahoma, Montana, and Michigan. Between 2005 and 2009, state legislation similar to I-1033 was introduced in 28 states (AL, AZ, CA, FL, GA, ID, KS, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NH, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, PH, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI). Colorado remains the only state to have adopted this terrible idea.

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