Washington hikes initiative filing fee for first time in over a century

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs accomplished something this month that lawmakers could not do the past two decades: increase the filing fee for an initiative.

This month the cost rose from $5 each, a sum set more than a century ago, to $156, the amount adjusted for inflation. Future hikes will be tied to the federal inflation rate. In recent years, filings of initiatives – which can go to the Legislature or voters – have soared, driving up costs for the state, even as many of the measures are never seriously pursued, Hobbs said.

When an initiative is filed, staff of the secretary of state, attorney general, and code reviser offices are required to process and prepare it to be circulated by signature gatherers. Those expenses are borne by taxpayers.

“The participatory democracy of filing ballot measures is an important facet of our state government’s structure, but keeping the fee artificially low has problematic ripple effects,” Hobbs said in a statement.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/03/20/washington-hikes-initiatiive-filing-fee-for-first-time-in-a-century/

[Turbineguy]

1. These public initiatives should be discontinued.

It's the government's job to pass laws.

Ordinary voters don't have the time to properly analyze these things. Why even have a legislature if you are going to do end runs around them?