Opinion ID: 1191734
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Legislative Department

Text: ง 1. Legislative Powers, Where Vested. The legislative authority of the state of Washington shall be vested in the legislature, consisting of a senate and house of representatives, which shall be called the legislature of the state of Washington, but the people reserve to themselves the power to propose bills, laws, and to enact or reject the same at the polls, independent of the legislature, and also reserve power, at their own option, to approve or reject at the polls any act, item, section, or part of any bill, act, or law passed by the legislature. . . . . (b) Referendum. The second power reserved by the people is the referendum, and it may be ordered on any act, bill, law, or any part thereof passed by the legislature, except such laws as may be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, support of the state government and its existing public institutions.... (c) No act, law, or bill subject to referendum shall take effect until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it was enacted.... Const. art. II, ง 1 (amend. VII) (emphasis added). [2] The issue is whether the Stadium Act (attached verbatim in Appendix A), which imposes taxes to possibly build a stadium, is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety. The majority claims it is. Let us test that claim against the constitution itself.