By Heidi Groover

The Seattle Times

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office is asking the state Supreme Court to allow voter-approved car-tab tax cuts to take effect this week, despite a lower-court ruling putting the cuts on hold.

The state filed an emergency motion Monday saying Washington voters’ wishes are being “stymied” by a King County Superior Court judge’s decision to stop Initiative 976 from taking effect while a legal fight over the initiative’s constitutionality plays out.

Voters last month approved I-976, the statewide measure that calls for lowering many vehicle registration fees to $30, rolling back car-tab taxes that fund Sound Transit and doing away with local car-tab fees. Much of the measure was set to take effect Dec. 5.

Soon after it passed, Seattle, King County, the Garfield County Transportation Authority and a handful of other groups sued, claiming the measure is unconstitutional. They sought a halt to the initiative while they argued their case, saying they would suffer immediate harm from the loss of car-tab revenue that funds roads and transit projects.

King County Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson sided with the groups Wednesday, temporarily blocking I-976 from taking effect but not yet ruling on the initiative itself.

In Monday’s filing, the Attorney General’s Office calls the lower court’s injunction “legally flawed” and says I-976 will “result in substantial savings to Washington vehicle owners.” Local governments like Seattle can use reserves or other taxes to make up for the losses they’ll suffer from car-tab cuts in the immediate term, the office argues.

Halting I-976 will mean voters will be “forced to pay the fees, taxes, and other charges that they just rejected” at the ballot, the filing says.

“The possibility of a refund months or years in the future, at great expense to the State and taxpayers, is hollow comfort,” the filing says later.

At issue in the case has been the ballot title voters saw for I-976, written by the Attorney General’s Office. That language said I-976 would repeal, reduce or remove authority for certain vehicle taxes and limit annual car-tab fees to $30 “except voter-approved charges.” The initiative itself said only charges approved by voters after the measure took effect were exempted. The measure also would repeal cities’ authority to charge car-tab taxes regardless of whether they are voter-approved.

Seattle and others argue the title was misleading. The state counters that ballot titles can be general as long as they include enough information to prompt voters to look to the text of the initiative itself for details.

I-976 was sponsored by longtime anti-tax activist Tim Eyman, who faces a separate campaign-finance lawsuit brought by the Attorney General’s Office.

While it’s typical for the state to defend voter-approved initiatives, Eyman has denounced the Attorney General’s Office, claiming the state is failing to mount a sufficient response to the lawsuit. Eyman has argued that the office should use an outside law firm and that the case should be heard in a different county.

Eyman has also called on drivers to not renew their car tabs as a form of protest. The Washington State Department of Licensing urges people to follow the law and renew their tabs when they’re due.

The department had been gearing up for the Dec. 5 rollout.

Although car-tab fees across Washington would be lowered this week if I-976 took effect, Sound Transit says it will continue collecting higher vehicle fees in its Puget Sound taxing district.

The agency already has issued bonds to be repaid in part with those fees. I-976 instructed the agency to alter or retire bonds it planned to repay with those fees, but Sound Transit says I-976 didn’t set a deadline to pay off debt early.