Washington
WA Supreme Court to consider Let’s Go Washington lawsuit challenging ‘millionaires tax’
Washington’s Supreme Court has agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of a portion of the recently passed income tax on high earners, also known as the “millionaires tax.”
The law includes a clause that prevents it from being repealed by voters through a method called a referendum, something that conservative group Let’s Go Washington has alleged is unconstitutional.
RELATED: Washington’s historic income tax on high earners is now law
“The framers of our constitution said, ‘We don’t like taxes,’ and then, they were very strict about the rules of what could be taxed and how it could be taxed,” Let’s Go Washington founder Brian Heywood said. “It’s mind-boggling… [to] say we’re going to make an exception to anything that’s tax-related and the people can’t do a referendum on it.”
Heywood and his group attempted to file a referendum petition on the new law last week, but the Secretary of State bounced their petition back, noting that a referendum was not allowed under this law. In response, Let’s Go Washington filed the lawsuit challenging the clause.
A referendum is a particular process that has to be filed within 90 days after the Legislative session has ended to repeal a law that was passed during that session. If 154,455 signatures can be collected by June, voters would have a chance to repeal the targeted law in November. Implementation of the law is frozen until voters have a chance to weigh in.
Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, who sponsored the tax, said the inclusion of a clause to bar a referendum isn’t unusual for legislation that involves taxes, and wasn’t put in to try to dampen voter participation. Many revenue-related bills often include a clause that prevents a referendum from being brought against them, because in the state constitution, revenue-generating bills are necessary to the functioning of government.
“That’s not some special measure to try to block public involvement in the process,” Pedersen said. “That is just a statement of fact under the Constitution, that this is a revenue measure and it’s not subject to referendum.”
RELATED: Is ‘millionaire migration’ really a thing? Lessons from states that already tax the rich
State constitution scholars agree.
Hugh Spitzer, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law and expert on Constitutional Law, said while there have been about a dozen instances over the past 100 years where the clause barring a referendum on a law has been challenged, the court has typically held that the clause is constitutional.
“The Legislature has to make tough choices about taxes and about budgets, and so it would interfere with the functionality of government if every time the Legislature adopted a tax or passed a budget bill, it went to referendum,” Spitzer said.
In the past, he said people have tried to bring a referendum against a number of laws, such as a law allocating money for highway construction, excise taxes on margarine, a timber tax — all had a clause barring a referendum petition, and the court did not rule that could be overridden.
“I would say that the petitioners or plaintiffs in this instance have an uphill climb to get the court to rule against the Legislature’s use of the existing public institutions clause,” Spitzer said.
The Supreme Court is expected to hold a hearing on the constitutionality of this clause at the end of April. If the justices rule the use of the clause is unconstitutional, Pedersen has said the Legislature may need to call a special session, as the state’s budget for the next four years was balanced partially with revenue collected from the tax.
RELATED: Coming soon: Lawsuit challenging Washington state’s ‘millionaires tax’
If the Supreme Court upholds the clause, there is still another opportunity for voters to weigh in.
Let’s Go Washington has said if their referendum petition is denied, they will be pursuing the initiative process to put a repeal of the law on the ballot, though an initiative requires twice as many signatures to be gathered.
“A referendum is a simple, easy to understand, up or down, yes or no vote,” Heywood said. “If it’s an initiative, you have to get people to understand ‘vote yes in order to vote no,’ and that’s a much harder sell.”
From October 2019 to May 2024, the companies brought in as much as $19.7 million with the deceptive deals, Washington Attorney General Brown said
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed a lawsuit against Albertsons, Safeway and Haggen on Monday, alleging the grocery chains are deceiving shoppers with “buy one get one free” deals.
According to the lawsuit, the corporate owner of Albertsons, Safeway and Haggen has overcharged customers in more than three million transactions within a five-year period by using deceptive “buy one get one free deals.”
Albertsons Companies – which is the parent company of Safeway and Haggen – is among the largest grocery chains in the United States, Brown said, explaining the company operates all Safeway, Albertsons and Haggen stores in Washington, totaling 225 stores in the state.
Brown argues that the stores entice shoppers with the BOGO promotions on everyday items such as bread, cereal, fresh produce and olive oil.
The lawsuit, filed in King County, says the stores artificially increase prices of products slated for the deals in the weeks and months before the BOGO promotion is introduced. Brown says this overcharges customers in the interim.
According to the lawsuit, the stores then lower prices around 30 days after the deal is over. “The net result is that consumers think they’re getting a second item free, but in practice, they’re just paying an inflated price for the first item,” the Washington Attorney General’s Office said.
The lawsuit details one incident at a Gig Harbor Albertsons, which hiked the price of a bottle of olive oil to $10.99 for the BOGO promotion, after the oil was previously $6.99 a week before, marking a 57% increase.
After the BOGO deal ended, however, Brown’s office says the price went back to $6.99.
“We’re not going to stand for people getting fleeced by these deceptive practices,” Brown said. “That’s why we’ve filed this case. We want to make sure we’re protecting people’s pocketbooks, and we all know that affordability is a major issue these days. We’ve got to push back when companies are misleading their customers.”
Brown’s office said from October 2019 to May 2024, the company brought in as much as $19.7 million with the deceptive deals.
This isn’t the first time the defendants have been accused of deceptive BOGO deals, officials note.
Brown’s office said Albertsons previously paid $107 million to settle a 2016 class action lawsuit for misleading BOGO deals in Oregon.
The companies also settled a proposed class action lawsuit filed in 2023 in federal court in another case involving BOGO deals in Washington.
The lawsuit accused the company of violating Washington’s Consumer Protection Act by engaging in unfair and deceptive practices by artificially inflating the pre-BOGO price, then lowering the price after the deal ends. The Attorney General’s Office also alleges the company misrepresented prices and therefore engaged in unfair competition.
Attorney General Brown is seeking a court ruling that the stores violated state law and end the company’s use of these practices. Brown is also seeking restitution for Washington consumers and is asking the defendants to pay civil penalties for every violation of state law, along with pre-judgement interest.
In a statement shared with KOIN 6 News, Albertsons Companies — which is the parent company of Safeway and Haggen — said, “We are aware that the Washington Attorney General has filed a lawsuit related to certain buy‑one‑get‑one promotions. We engaged in good‑faith discussions with the Attorney General’s Office and strongly disagree with its claims, which are based on flawed analysis and data errors that we identified and raised.”
“Albertsons Companies is committed to complying with the law and to offering customers clear value through our promotions,” Albertsons Companies continued. “As this is pending litigation, we will address the matter through the legal process and cannot comment further.”
(WGXA) — 12 inmates are facing additional felony charges in January’s “gang-affiliated disturbance” at Washington State Prison that left four inmates dead and over a dozen injured.
The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) confirmed that the 12 male offenders have been charged with Felony murder, aggravated assualt, gang participation and unlawful acts of violence in a penal institution in connection to the investigation of the deadly incident at Davisboro prison.
42-year-old Jimmy Trammell, 23-year-old Ahmod Hatcher and 27-year-old Teddy Jackson died in the altercation, while Silas Westbrook, who was injured in the fight, later died following a “medical emergency” while being transferred from of Washington State Prison, the GDC says.
READ MORE | Search for 2 of 13 suspects underway in Macon-Bibb County RICO investigation, BSO says
The following inmates have been charged in the case and the sentences they are currently serving, per the GDC:
- Bryce Sims – Serving 35 years for Voluntary Manslaughter out of Fulton County.
- Versache Evans – Serving 20 years for aggravated assault out of Spalding County.
- Willie Beckham III – Serving 15 years for involuntary manslaughter out of Spalding County.
- Kadeem Blenman – Serving life in prison for armed robbery out of Richmond County.
- Aquinas Bush– Serving 10 years for obstruction of law enforcement officers out of Richmond County.
- Christopher Bonner – Serving 20 plus years for armed robbery out of Rockdale County.
- Jacorey Streeter – Serving 10 years for theft by taking out of Irwin County.
- Paul White – Serving 40 years for robbery by force in Tift County.
- Eric Howard – Serving nine years for trafficking narcotics in Clayton County.
- Brandon Drummond – Serving 25 years for aggravated assault out of Gwinnett County.
- Christian Brown – Serving 30 years for aggravated assault out of Sumter County.
- Javarius Spaulding – Serving 55 years for aggravated assault out of Bulloch County.
The GDC says the investigation remains active.
Stick with WGXA as we learn more and keep you ready for what’s next.
The man accused of opening fire outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner while President Donald Trump was in attendance on Saturday is expected to appear in federal court in D.C. for the first time on Monday.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of California, faces two charges: assaulting a federal officer and using a firearm in a crime of violence. Additional charges are expected as investigators’ work continues.
It was unclear if Allen had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Ten minutes before the shooting, Allen sent a long message to his family characterizing himself as a “friendly federal assassin,” investigators said. He described his targets as “administration officials” and alluded to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions.
His family said they alerted police when they saw his writings. They said Allen had a tendency to make radical statements and often referred to a plan to do something.
The guns Allen had were legally purchased a few years ago.
FBI Director Kash Patel said he and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will share additional details at a news conference later Monday.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
The suspect in a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner may have been a guest at the hotel the event was being held at. News4’s Mark Segraves and Dominique Moody reports.
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