WAGE, MARIJUANA, ABORTION INITIATIVES MAY MAKE BALLOT

OLYMPIA - Citizen initiatives to raise the minimum wage, ban late-term
abortions and allow the medicinal use of marijuana appear to have collected
enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

The campaign to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes was the last to
deliver petitions to the Capitol before yesterday's deadline, unloading an
estimated 245,000 signatures at the secretary of state's office.

The proposal, Initiative 692, is a streamlined version of last year's
I-685, which voters rejected. This year's model allows marijuana use by
patients with certain terminal or debilitating conditions such as cancer,
AIDS or glaucoma.

The campaign appears to have collected far more than the required 179,248
valid signatures needed to get the issue before voters. The state usually
disqualifies no more than 15 percent of petition signatures.

While sponsors of I-692 paid workers to gather petition signatures, the
other two measures relied on vast networks of volunteer signature
gatherers.

I-694 would ban so-called partial-birth abortions late in pregnancy, making
it a felony to kill a fetus "in the process of birth" unless it is deemed
the only way to save the mother.

The campaign delivered about 225,000 signatures to the Capitol on Wednesday.

I-688 would raise the minimum wage in Washington from $4.90 an hour to
$5.70 in 1999 and to $6.50 an hour in 2000, after which it would rise with
inflation.

The campaign, sponsored by the state Labor Council, collected an estimated
284,000 signatures.

Six other initiative campaigns failed to rally enough support by
yesterday's deadline. A move to eliminate the state's vehicle excise tax
may have come the closest. The campaign reported that it had gathered more
than 164,000 signatures, but conceded defeat yesterday.

David Brine, spokesman for the secretary of state, said the office will
start verifying the signatures soon, beginning with the minimum-wage
campaign.

The final tally of valid signatures for the minimum-wage campaign is
expected by about July 20, he said, with the results of the two other
initiatives coming later this summer.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)