Before I mention my column in this week's The Stranger, about the 98 emergencies declared by the legislature this session, I'll start with a fun movie trivia question: From which movie is this line: "Emergency, emergency, everybody to get from street!" [the first person to answer the question from memory without using an Internet search, gets extra credit]
Back to this week's column:
It might be illegal to yell "Fire!" under false pretenses in a crowded movie house, but yelling "Emergency!" on the floor of the state legislature (under false pretenses, for sure) was standard operating procedure this year.Read the whole thing.In the legislative session just ended, 98 of the 524 bills that passed both houses included a "declaration of emergency." Hardly any of these bills address palpable emergencies like hurricanes or terrorist attacks. Most were enacted to allow relatively harmless and amusingly mundane regulations to take effect immediately, such as SB 5952 "Exempting trams used for transporting people to and from parking lots to horse race facilities from vehicle licensing." But the legislature, overcrowded by the Democrats this year, also added emergency clauses to a number ofcontroversial bills. These emergencies were cynical ploys to protect legislation from getting nixed by a voter referendum. Emergencies force opponents to clear the much higher hurdle of an initiative-which requires twice as many signatures.
I only get 500 words for the column, so I didn't get a chance to quote all the good folks who gave me helpful background for the story. I acknowledge them here: Sen. Steve Johnson; Tim Harris of the BIAW; Jason Mercier of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, who wrote this piece and also sent me a list of all 98 emergency bills; Bill Maurer of the Institute for Justice. The Supreme Court decision on the "emergency" baseball stadium (CLEAN v State of Washington) is here. I've also posted the petition and brief from the Farm Bureau's suit for a referendum to defend I-601. I also called the offices of four Senate Democrats to get their side of the story. Only one Democratic senator returned my call -- Sen. Karen Keiser, who I quoted in the article.
UPDATE: Two readers, Jay T and Ray B, both correctly identified the movie as "The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!"
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 19, 2005 03:16 PM | Email ThisBut if they're up for another bill or two, the street i live on could use some "emergency" asphalt
Posted by: righton on May 19, 2005 03:23 PMAn alternative trivia question might be "How many pairs of shoes must you sell to make a $120,000 salary?"
Posted by: MikeF on May 19, 2005 03:28 PMI can't think of a legitimate emergency that would not get a 2/3 win.
Posted by: Andy on May 19, 2005 03:42 PMThe Democrats calling everything an emergency was speifically designed to circumvent the citizen's rightful constitutional right to the referendum process in this state. It shows how low they will go and from this session on anything they call an emergency, such as the water shortage, will be laughed off.
I hope either by initiative, or lawsuit, their use of the emergency clause gets put in check, and I believe they have stepped way way beyond their rights.
Kick the SOB's out next election!
Posted by: GS on May 19, 2005 03:42 PMThe line was said by Alan Arkin's character, the Russian sub's exec, while hiding out in the telephone switchboard operator's upstairs office.
The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming!
Spasiba,Whitakker Walt.
alaric
Posted by: alaric on May 19, 2005 04:52 PMAt $500-$1000 a pop, they will think twice about routine emergencies. If it's a TRUE (legislative intended) emergency, the fee is waived for doing what's right for the taxpayer. Let them justify pulling the school fire alarm for kicks.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on May 19, 2005 09:22 PM