Three hot initiatives may be headed to ballot
by Hunter T. George

June 30, 1998 - Associated Press

OLYMPIA (AP) -- An 11th-hour push for voter signatures may propel several hot issues to Washington's statewide ballot in November.

Supporters of raising the minimum wage and banning a controversial abortion procedure planned to deliver petitions to Secretary of State Ralph Munro on Wednesday. Sponsors of an initiative allowing the medical use of marijuana planned to unload their petitions Thursday.

All three are scooting in just before Thursday's deadline to collect the signatures of 179,236 voters. Munro recommends collecting in excess of 210,000 signatures to protect against fraudulent or duplicate signatures. It will take Munro's office several weeks to check a sampling of the petitions and determine if any qualify for placement on the ballot.

Backers of Initiative 688, a labor-sponsored proposal to raise Washington state's minimum wage, feared just two weeks ago that they might not make it. But a surge of some 60,000 signatures put them over the top and provided a healthy cushion.

"We know we broke 225,000, and we're still counting the rest," campaign coordinator Judy Krebs said. "That was a very difficult time period where we thought a hiccup could kill us. We didn't hiccup. Everybody pulled through."

I-688 would increase the minimum wage from the current level of $4.90 an hour to $5.70 an hour in January. It would jump to $6.50 an hour in January 2000, after which the rate would be linked to the consumer price index. Gov. Gary Locke, who supports I-688, was scheduled to make brief remarks before supporters line up in a "bucket brigade" and pass packets of petitions to the secretary of state's office.

That group will be followed a couple of hours later by Dr. Robert Bethel, a Poulsbo physician who sponsored the abortion measure, I-694. Bethel said supporters were still counting signatures Tuesday, and he indicated it could be close.

I-694 would make it a felony to terminate the life of a fetus once the cervix has been dilated and the fetus has entered the birth canal. An exception would be made when the procedure was necessary to prevent the mother's death.

On Thursday, Dr. Rob Killian was scheduled to deliver petitions for his second attempt to legalize the medical use of marijuana. The Tacoma physician is sponsoring a much slimmer version of last year's initiative that failed at the polls, and he expressed hope that voters will recognize his effort to address their concerns by limiting the scope of the proposal.

Killian said the campaign collected at least 220,000 signatures. Several other measures that had active signature-gathering campaigns were less sure of making the ballot and had not scheduled a time to drop off petitions.

Two sought to repeal the state motor vehicle excise tax, saving motorists about $800 million a year. The other measure would roll back property values to their 1989 levels and restrict future property tax increases.

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