One of the items that really has my attention and interest is Resolution 8206, a proposal to change our state's constitution to authorize the establishment of a "budget stabilization account."
Basically, it would require that 1% of general state revenues be transfered into this account, and more if the legislature so desires. It is also stated on the ballot that expenditures from the account shall be prohibited except as set forth in the amendment.
This prompted me to see what the conditions on expenditures are. There's the stuff you would expect, such as natural disasters, but then I found this whopper in the proposed subsection (d) of the new amendment text:
"(iii) Any amount may be withdrawn and appropriated from the budget stabilization account at any time by the favorable vote of at least three-fifths of the members of each house of the legislature."[emphasis mine]
Maybe it's just me, but in a Democrat dominated state legislature, does this sound to anyone else like a proposal to create a lidless cookie jar?
Full text of Resolution 8206: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/SJR8206.pdf
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