NO CITIZEN INITIATIVES TO THE LEGISLATURE IN 2000

OLYMPIA (AP) -- It would have been a political junkie's dream: Forcing the
year-2000 Legislature to consider such hot-button issues as prayer in
public schools, lie-detector tests for state workers and legalized marijuana.

But it's not going to happen.

None of the people who filed a dozen initiatives this year are expected to
submit petitions before Thursday's 5 p.m. deadline, according to the
secretary of state's office.

Backers needed the signatures of 179,248 registered voters to force the
Legislature to consider their issues. Under state law, measures that get
enough signatures must be approved by the Legislature or forwarded with an
alternate proposal to the November 2000 statewide ballot.

The initiative proposals sought to limit the salaries of public employees,
require religious instruction in public schools, legalize pot, raise the
state government's spending limit, cut property taxes and create a state
health insurance plan, among other things.

Two proposals are expected to be back soon.

They are Tim Eyman's sequels to the car-tab-slashing Initiative 695 that
seek to roll back recent tax increases and shift spending on transit
programs to highway construction.

Eyman, the Mukilteo businessman who sponsored I-695, has said he plans to
bring both measures back in the form of initiatives to the people, which
would bypass the Legislature and bring them straight to the November ballot
if enough signatures are collected.

He filed the two measures as initiatives to the Legislature in order to
speed reviews by state bill-drafters and the attorney general's office, and
to give organizers a leg-up for their real goal -- the November 2000 ballot.

The first day to file initiatives to the people is Jan. 7. The deadline for
turning in petitions will be July 7.