Title: Wash. Ass'n for Substance Abuse & Violence Prevention v. State  (Concurrence/Dissent)

State: washington

Issuer: Washington Supreme Court

Document:

Wash. Ass’n for Substance Abuse & Violence Prevention v. State No. 87188-4 CHAMBERS, J. (concurring in part and concurring in dissent in part) — I join the dissenting opinion in part. Initiative Measure 1183 violates the subject-in- title rule of article II, section 19 of the Washington State Constitution because a reference to “license fees based on sales” in the initiative title is insufficient to alert voters to the fact that the bill contains a new tax. I write separately because I also agree with the majority that there is a rational unity between liquor regulation and public safety and that the appellants’ other arguments asserting a violation of article II, section 19’s single-subject rule are meritless. But the violation of the subject-in- title rule is sufficient to invalidate the initiative, and I concur with the dissent’s ultimate disposition that the initiative is unconstitutional. Wash. Ass’n for Substance Abuse & Violence Prevention v. State, No. 87188-4 AUTHOR: Justice Tom Chambers WE CONCUR: