“Rainy-day fund” amendment’s name may work against it
OLYMPIA - This was supposed to be a no-brainer. When lawmakers voted overwhelmingly last spring for a constitutional amendment setting aside a small sliver of state revenue in a “rainy-day fund,” most assumed voters would gladly go along.
So why are many of the rainy-day fund’s biggest backers so worried?
Because the words “rainy-day fund” don’t appear anywhere on Senate Joint Resolution 8206, one of two constitutional amendments on this year’s general-election ballot. Instead, the ballot asks voters whether they approve of creating a “budget stabilization account.”
Supporters fear that bit of bureaucratese might leave voters confused about the measure. And, more often than not, a confused voter is a “no” voter.
During the past few weeks, Gov. Christine Gregoire and business leaders have been rounding up big donations for the Yes to a Rainy Day Fund campaign. After skimping along for months with almost no money, the campaign took in nearly $200,000 in the past month.
With ballots already in the mail to voters, the campaign is preparing a last-minute splash of television ads to begin airing this week.
“It’s simply a matter of educating people that this is the rainy-day fund we’re talking about,” Gregoire said. “If that’s what they believe, I’m convinced they will overwhelmingly say yes.”
But the governor and her staff might be partly to blame for the clunky ballot language.
The idea of creating a constitutionally protected rainy-day fund has been around for years, but until this year supporters could never muster the two-thirds vote needed in the Legislature to amend the state constitution.
During the past few years, the biggest champion was Sen. Joe Zarelli of Richfield, the ranking Republican on the Senate budget committee. But with Democrats in control in Olympia, his bill got little traction.
Last December, however, Gregoire announced she was going to start pushing her own rainy-day bill.
Gregoire’s proposal was largely the same as Zarelli’s, and within weeks the two had agreed on final version to push through the Legislature.
It was in that process, however, that the name got changed. Zarelli’s bill called it a “rainy-day reserve,” while Gregoire’s used the term “budget stabilization account.”
Victor Moore, Gregoire’s budget chief, said he doesn’t recall when or why the name was changed. In hindsight, he said, “I think rainy-day fund is inherently more understandable.”
Supporters, especially business leaders, say a rainy-day fund will help the state avoid painful budget cuts or tax increases during tough economic times.
The only significant opposition to the proposal has come from House Appropriations Chairwoman Helen Sommers, a Seattle Democrat and the Legislature’s longest-serving member. Sommers argued it would infringe on the Legislature’s spending authority.
But the measure was eventually approved on broad bipartisan votes in both the House and Senate.
If voters ratify the constitutional amendment, 1 percent of the state’s general-fund revenue - now about $150 million - will automatically be set aside each year into a savings account. The money would be largely off-limits.
The only time lawmakers could spend from the fund with a simple majority vote is during severe economic downturns or to respond to a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Otherwise, it would take a 60 percent supermajority for lawmakers to tap the money.
Once the fund reaches 10 percent of annual revenues, the excess could be spent, with a simple-majority vote, on school and college construction.
“It is a very straightforward, very simple concept,” said Kelly Evans, who is running the Yes campaign.
But Evans said polling done by the campaign during the summer found that, when people read the ballot language, they don’t quickly grasp that it’s a rainy-day fund. So the campaign turned to Gregoire and business leaders for help.
Gregoire kicked in $35,000 from the Legacy Fund, a political-action committee that she controls.
Some of the state’s biggest corporations - including Microsoft, Weyerhaeuser and Qwest - have also given to the campaign.
Illustrating the broad support for the rainy-day fund, donations to the campaign have come from across the political spectrum. Cellphone tycoon John Stanton, a prominent Republican, pitched in $25,000, as did David Nierenberg, an investor from Camas who donates heavily to Democrats.
Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882
or rthomas@seattletimes.com