Inslee partly vetoes climate change packages, angers Democrats

(The Center Square) – Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has vetoed key parts of climate change legislation Democrats in the Washington Legislature said were crucial in a bargain ensuring they reached his desk.

Inslee signed Senate Bill 5126 and House Bill 1091. They enact a clean fuel standard and a carbon cap-and-trade program that would lower the state’s net emissions to zero by 2050.

Inslee removed language Monday from the legislation that would have tied the bills to an infrastructure package, allowing for two of his campaign initiatives to take place untethered to a larger plan.

Inslee said in a veto message lawmakers inserted the effective dates of the legislation in just a way that was an effort to prevent it from being altered.

“It strains the imagination to discern any reason for embedding into a single section a delayed effective date that impacts not just that one section but also multiple additional sections, unless that reason is to prevent it from being vetoed,” he said.

Inslee’s office denied any involvement with a bargain in the legislative process.

The vetoes garnered anger from Democratic lawmakers who said Inslee betrayed their trust.

“This sets a chilling precedent and poisons the well for all future negotiations on virtually any tough issue,” said Sen Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah. “When it comes to the governor’s top priorities in the future, he should expect a more hostile Legislature if this is the path he wishes to take.”

Others said Inslee cannot legally veto legislation the way he did because of a 1974 constitutional change that limited a Washington governor’s veto abilities.

“The governor’s partial veto today of E3SHB 1091, the clean fuel standard bill, reaches beyond his constitutional powers, and we will ask the Washington courts to again rule on the balance of legislative and executive branch powers,” said House Speaker Laurie Jenkins, D-Tacoma.

Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, D-Spokane, reminded Inslee he had selective veto attempts like this struck down in court in years past.

“[T]his is the second time in recent years this governor has attempted to invent such a power,” he said. “He lost in court then. He will lose again. Make no mistake, the Legislature will use every power at its disposal to push back and preserve the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches as prescribed by the Washington State Constitution.”

Inslee had two vetoes invalidated last fall by Thurston County Superior Judge Carol Murphy that have yet to be decided by the Washington Supreme Court.

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