Pubdate: Sun, 11 Jan 2015
Source: Yakima Herald-Republic (WA)
Copyright: 2015 Yakima Herald-Republic
Contact: http://special.yakimaherald.com/submit/
Website: http://www.yakimaherald.com/home/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/511
Note: Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are
Sharon J. Prill, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.

LEGISLATURE NEEDS TO TAKE INITIATIVE ON THREE ISSUES

Citizen initiatives have proven a popular feature of state politics
ever since they won approval in 1912, less than a quarter century
after Washington became a state. It's true that the initiatives serve
a valuable function when our elected officials - for whatever reasons
- - refuse to acknowledge the will of the people on a particular issue.

The drawback to initiatives is they offer a one-size-fits-all solution
that is not subject to the give-and-take of the legislative process.
The vetting by state lawmakers and the amendment process help identify
unintended consequences of legislation and usually resolve them before
they become law. Initiatives, on the other hand, offer clunky
implementation that frequently warrants legislative
intervention.

As our state's Legislature gathers Monday, it needs to address
problems in three laws that ballot initiatives have bestowed onto the
state:

Medical marijuana: Problems have festered ever since Initiative 692
passed with a 59 percent yes vote in 1998. The law enabled a cannabis
carnival that complicated implementation of Initiative 502, the
pot-legalization measure that voters approved in 2012. The medical
marijuana law has no structure for licensing and inspections, which
makes enforcement problematical.

In fact, some of the most vocal opponents of I-502 in 2012 were
medical marijuana practitioners who gamed the system and rightly saw
that a legalized - and regulated - pot market would cut into their
highly profitable enterprises. The Legislature needs to reconcile the
differences and bring medical marijuana under the newer state statute.

The federal government for now has backed off enforcement of its law
that still treats marijuana as an illegal substance, but that could
change. The feds have watched closely as Washington and Colorado put
their laws into effect, soon to be joined by Oregon and Alaska. It's
in the state's interest to clean up the medical pot legislation before
the federal government imposes potentially draconian measures.

Gun control: Initiative 594, approved in November with 59 percent yes
vote, expands background-check requirements to sales and transfers at
gun shows, online sales and private individuals. The expansion of
background checks is an admirable goal and is popular politically, but
the authors of this measure have been bedeviled by the details.

For example, the new law doesn't cover the gift of a gun between
family members, but it does for the sale of a gun between the same
people; the intra-family sale must go through a firearms dealer. The
law doesn't adequately define what constitutes a temporary transfer
for hunting or for an outing at a rifle range - is it a few hours, a
few days, a few weeks?

Especially on the transfer issue, the measure's vague language lends
itself to confusion and inconsistent enforcement. The Legislature
should consider something along the lines of Colorado's law, which
imposes a 72-hour time limit on transfers, and look for ways to
unclutter the sales of guns to family members.

School class size: The voters have almost figured out what the
Legislature determined years ago: That feel-good measures dictating
K-12 class sizes and teacher pay are almost worthless without a
funding mechanism. Back in 2000, voters overwhelmingly approved
Initiative 728 and Initiative 732, which respectively would have
reduced class sizes and implemented cost-of-living pay increases for
teachers. In the ensuing years, lawmakers have routinely suspended
I-732, and in 2012 they repealed I-728 altogether.

In November, Initiative 1351, which would reduce class sizes in large
part by increasing the number of teachers, slithered to approval with
just under 51 percent voting yes - far shy of the yes vote for I-728
(71.7 percent) and I-732 (62.7 percent) in 2000. The narrow approval
in 2014 hardly qualifies as a mandate. Implementing I-1351 would cost
an estimated $4.7 billion through 2019; this as the Legislature
struggles to meet the terms of the state Supreme Court's McCleary
ruling, which already will require spending an estimated $5.7 billion
on K-12 education through 2019.

If the Legislature addresses McCleary to the court's satisfaction,
class sizes will drop anyway in early grades, where research has shown
that smaller classes matter most. Meanwhile, lawmakers should suspend
or repeal I-1351 altogether.

The 2015 session, scheduled to run 105 days, is shaping up as a long
and difficult one. Fiscal work will come mostly late in the session
after revenue forecasts become more clear. In the meantime, lawmakers
can put in productive time by addressing the weaknesses in these
ballot initiatives turned state laws.

Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Sharon J.
Prill, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D