One of the longest-running groups working within Real Change is the Editorial Committee, a panel of tireless advisers to the newsroom who critique the paper and suggest story ideas to thew newsroom. At least one member of the committee attends weekly news meetings when the editorial department plans the upcoming issue. The Real Change Editorial Committee is comprised of volunteers, including some who have experienced homelessness. Those who participate are often current or former vendors.
Before elections, the committee makes endorsements on ballot initiatives. Nonprofits are legally allowed to endorse ballot measures, but not candidates. This year, the Editorial Committee came up with these endorsements for four items on your November ballot. The group met earlier this month to discuss each item in detail, and members were asked how they thought you should vote.
Proposition No. 1
Vote yes
Prop. 1 would enact the largest expansion of Sound Transit’s light-rail, commuter-rail and bus rapid transit ever. The $53.8 billion property tax would extend Seattle’s current single line of light rail to multiple lines reaching from Everett to Tacoma and Ballard to Issaquah.
The expansion would be paid for with a property tax of 25 cents or less per $1,000 of assessed value. An average household in Snohomish, King or Pierce counties would pay $400 more in property, sales and car taxes, including new and current taxes.
The committee narrowly endorsed this measure and disagreed on several points.
The majority agreed that we need more options. They were encouraged by the transit-oriented development and efforts to set aside space for affordable housing.
Supporters argued that the region needs a transit system that does not rely on roads, and some noted that the rail stations would make it easier for them to travel through their communities.
Opponents argued that a faster and cheaper alternative is creating a larger, more robust bus system; that even property taxes are regressive, meaning that they hit low-income taxpayers harder than wealthy tax payers; and that former Metro Director Chuck Collins opposed this effort.
Others noted that transit changes planned for their regions would not improve their travel times, if the new stations even open in their lifetimes.
The majority voted in favor.
Please vote yes.
Initiative 735
Vote yes
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for campaign spending and effectively created super PACs, political nonprofits that are not required to disclose their contributors.
Initiative 735 is an opportunity for voters to rebuke that ruling. If passed, it directs the Washington Secretary of State to urge Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that establishes that constitutional rights are for people, not corporations, and that the spending of money is not constitutionally protected speech.
The Real Change Editorial Committee endorses this initiative, recognizing that its passage in and of itself does not change policy. The group found it a noble idea to advise our congressional delegation to do the right thing.
“Free speech is speech and actions, not money,” one of the members said.
It is critical that campaign spending be regulated and for it to be openly reported who is spending what money.
Sixteen states have passed similar efforts through voter initiatives or state legislatures. Washington should be the 17th.
Please vote yes.
Initiative 1433
Vote yes
In 2013, the city of SeaTac passed a $15-an-hour minimum wage for airport and hospitality workers associated with the Sea-Tac International Airport, a law that affected an estimated 13,100 workers in the area.
The vote was the first step in a series of efforts to bring living wages to workers around Washington. The Seattle City Council passed its own minimum wage hike, a stair-stepped effort that will hit $15-an-hour for some employees for the first time in January.
Initiative 1433 expands the effort statewide, calling for an immediate wage-hike for minimum-wage workers in 2017 to $11 per hour. Currently the state minimum wage is $9.47 an hour. The minimum wage will increase to $11.50 in 2018, $12 in 2019 and $13.50 in 2020.
The Real Change Editorial Board strongly urges a yes vote on this item, noting that even this much of an increase is not enough.
“This is not a livable wage,” one noted. “We need a livable wage, not a minimum wage.”
The committee was also encouraged by a provision requiring employers to provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked.
“It’s important to have paid sick leave,” one member noted. “Forcing people to work sick is a public health concern.”
Please vote yes.
Initiative 1464
Vote no
While Initiative 735 seeks a long-term solution to campaign finance by amending the constitution, Initiative 1464 seeks to create fairer election spending immediately.
It would create a statewide financing program, using taxpayer dollars to fund elections. The program mimics one that passed in Seattle but has not been put into action.
They’re known as democracy vouchers. Voters would receive three vouchers worth $50 each to provide to candidates of their choice. To be eligible to collect vouchers, candidates would need to collect at least 75 private contributions of at least $10 each. Candidates must also agree to spend no more than $5,000 of their personal funds and will be limited to receiving no more than $150,000 for candidates for the state House of Representatives and $250,000 for state Senate candidates.
It is paid by closing a tax loophole. If passed, the initiative repeals the nonresident sales tax exemption and requires people who live outside of Washington to pay sales taxes on retail purchases in the state.
The Editorial Committee narrowly decided to encourage a no vote on this item. Members felt that the voucher system is a clumsy system that has not been fully tested in Seattle.
The board encouraged the drafters of the initiative to wait until Seattle has used its voucher system and re-introduce the measure then.
“I think it needs to be brought back, if not next year, the year after,” one member said.
Please vote no.