A bill introduced by Rep. Holy and 22 co-sponsors would increase the fiscal transparency of state Supreme Court decisions by requiring fiscal notes to be created for certain decisions. The state Supreme Court has issued several decisions recently that have large fiscal impacts for the state and local governments (McCleary and Hirst are examples).

According to HB 2636 - Concerning fiscal notes for supreme court decisions (in-part):

“The office of financial management shall, in consultation with the administrative office of the courts, establish a procedure for the provision of fiscal notes estimating the impact of Washington state supreme court decisions that increase or decrease or tend to increase or decrease state and local government revenues or expenditures.”

These fiscal notes would be required to be provided to members of the legislature, justices and the public via a press release. OFM would also be required to maintain the fiscal notes in a database like the existing one for bills.

This policy would provide the same type of fiscal transparency for certain State Supreme Court rulings that bills and other regulatory actions currently face. By also including the requirement to provide fiscal notes for decisions that impact revenues, this could also apply to actions like the recent ruling invalidating Spokane’s property tax exemption and if the City of Seattle’s income tax makes it to the state Supreme Court.