The Secretary of State's Office has posted the Voters' Guide summary for Initiative 1464 (Campaign Finance). Along with the official ballot title and Office of Financial Management Fiscal Impact Statement, an explanatory and pro/con statements are provided. Among those speaking against I-1464 are former State Auditor Brian Sonntag, former Attorney Generals Slade Gorton and Rob McKenna and former Secretary of State Sam Reed. Also joining them are Sam Jackson (Democratic Party activist) and Darlene Johnson (small business owner).

Signing up for the "Pro" committee: 

"Ann Murphy, President, League of Women Voters of Washington; Ben Stuckart, President, Spokane City Council; Greg Moon, Republican, co-founder, Seattle Tea Party Patriots; Noel Frame, State Representative,36th Legislative District, Democrat; Alice Woldt, former Director, Fix Democracy First, Faith Action Network; Terry Bergeson, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction."

Spanning 23 pages and 37 sections, I-1464 is a very complex proposal covering many aspect of campaign finance. Since the majority of the proposed taxpayer spending is used for the campaign contribution vouchers, this post will focus primarily on the arguments made on that aspect of the ballot measure.

The "Pro" committee says: 

"Initiative 1464 gives regular people a stronger voice by enabling each person to decide if they want to direct some of their own tax dollars to support candidates of their choice. This also helps new types of candidates run for office even if they aren’t wealthy or well-connected to big donors. If we want things to change, we have to reform the campaign finance system so regular people have more power in politics. Initiative 1464 makes commonsense reforms proven to work in other states and pays for itself by closing a tax loophole. We can’t fix every problem or get all money out of politics, but if we do nothing, nothing will change."

Arguing against the use of taxpayer dollars to fund campaigns the "Con" committee counters: 

"Initiative 1464 uses your tax dollars to tilt the political system in favor of politicians and out of state special interests, while depriving our schools of resources to fully fund education. We shouldn’t put politicians before our kids . . . Our state is under court order to fully fund education and is subject to a $100,000 per day fine. Instead of funding our schools, the initiative gives $285 million in taxpayer money to political consultants and politicians to spend on mudslinging and negative attack ads . . . The initiative hurts Washington small businesses by raising $285 million in taxes on their customers over the next ten years. This will hurt tourism and kill jobs."

Describing how I-1464 would change existing law, the official explanatory statement says: 

"Candidates for elected offices pay for their campaigns through private contributions and their own money. State law limits some contribution amounts. These limits apply to contributions from individuals, corporations, unions, and political action committees. The contribution limit for legislative candidates is $1,000 per election. For statewide offices and judicial offices the contribution limit is $2,000 per election. State law prohibits the use of public funds to finance political campaigns for state or school district offices . . . 

[I-1464's] 'Democracy credit contributions' would come from state funds. The measure would repeal the nonresident sales tax exemption and require nonresidents to pay the sales tax on retail purchases in the state. Revenue from those sales would be dedicated to funding the new program. Some revenue could also be used to enforce campaign finance laws. The measure would repeal the law that currently prohibits using state funds for political campaigns."

As we wrote earlier this month, I-1464 is modeled after a law adopted by Seattle voters in 2015. The tax financed voucher provisions of that new Seattle law, however, don't take effect until 2017 making evaluation of its impact premature. OFM estimated I-1464 would cost approximately $171.5 million over the next six years. Unlike previous ballot measures, I-1464 does provide a funding source by repealing the nonresident sales tax exemption. This sales tax exemption, however, has actually been recommended for continuation by the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee (JLARC).

Additional Information
I-1464 modeled after Seattle law yet to be implemented
Ballot measure targets sales tax exemption for border communities