WA Legal Roundup ? Div I: Eyeman's Traffic Cam Initiative Off the ...

By Justin P. Walsh

American Traffic Solutions v. City of Bellingham

The RCWs gave Bellingham authority to put up traffic cameras. The reason I think the initiative process should be modified or repealed Eyeman sought to hinder that authority. While I generally am not a fan of the cameras, the law on local initiatives is pretty clear when authority comes from state statute:

?An initiative is beyond the scope of the initiative power if the initiative?involves powers granted by the legislature to the governing body of a city, rather?than the city itself.? Malkasian, 157 Wn.2d at 261. Where the legislature enacts a?general law that grants such authority to the legislative body of a city, the exercise of?that authority by the legislative body is not ?subject to repeal, amendment or?modification by the people through the initiative or referendum procedure.? State ex?rel. Guthrie v. City of Richland, 80 Wn.2d 382, 384, 494 P.2d 990 (1972); see also?Priorities First v. City of Spokane, 93 Wn. App. 406, 410, 968 P.2d 431 (1998)?(people cannot deprive the city legislative authority of power to do what a state?statute specifically permits it to do). In determining whether the legislature granted?authority to the local legislative body, we look primarily to the language of the?relevant statute. See Malkasian, 157 Wn.2d at 262-63.

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This entry was posted on September 7, 2011 at 9:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://theamateurlawprofessor.com/2011/09/07/wa-legal-roundup-div-i-eyemans-traffic-cam-initiative-off-the-ballot/

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