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State Supreme Court Strikes Down Supermajority Vote Requirement

Via the Associated Press:

A divided high court ruled 6-3 Thursday that an initiative requiring a two-thirds vote was in conflict with the state Constitution. And that lawmakers and the people of Washington would need to pass a constitutional amendment to change from a simple majority to a supermajority.

Gov. Jay Inslee issued a statement reacting to the news:

The state Supreme Court did the right thing today in ruling that a supermajority requirement for ordinary legislation would alter our system of government. The supermajority requirement gave a legislative minority the power to squelch ideas even when those ideas had majority support. That is inconsistent with our fundamental form of representative democracy.

More reactions from state legislators on both sides of the aisle:

https://twitter.com/brianmrosenthal/status/307186286442184705

https://twitter.com/awgarber/status/307187240134664192

https://twitter.com/brianmrosenthal/status/307184148160843777