Washington Motor Vehicle License Fees Initiative (2018)

Washington Motor Vehicle License Fees Initiative
Election date November 6, 2018
Topic Taxes and Transportation
Status Not on the ballot
Type State statute	Origin Citizens
List of Washington measuresWashington Initiative 940Washington Initiative 1631Washington Initiative 1634Washington Initiative 1639Washington Advisory Vote 19Submit

The Washington Motor Vehicle License Fees Initiative was not put on the ballot in Washington as an Initiative to the Legislature, a type of indirect initiated state statute, on November 6, 2018.

The measure would have set annual license fees for vehicles weighing under 10,000 pounds at $30.

Tim Eyman proposed six versions of the initiative.

On December 29, 2017, initiative sponsor Tim Eyeman said that enough signatures had not been gathered to get any version of the measure on the 2018 ballot. He attributed the failure to lack of funds to hire paid petitioners to gather signatures along with volunteers.

Ballot title

The following are the ballot titles for the initiatives:

Initiative Measure No. 892
Initiative Measure No. 892 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees. This measure would set annual license fees for certain vehicles at $30 plus additional charges; limit or repeal authority to impose some taxes and charges; and calculate vehicle taxes using the purchase price. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

Initiative Measure No. 915
Initiative Measure No. 915 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees. This measure would set annual license fees for certain vehicles at $30 with exceptions; repeal or limit authority to impose some taxes and charges; and calculate vehicle taxes based on the purchase price. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

Initiative Measure No. 923
Initiative Measure No. 923 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees. This measure would set annual license fees for certain vehicles at $30 with exceptions; repeal or limit authority to impose some taxes and charges; and calculate vehicle taxes based on the purchase price. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

Initiative Measure No. 941
Statement of Subject: Initiative Measure No. 941 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees. Concise Description: This measure would set annual license fees for certain vehicles at $30 with exceptions; repeal or limit authority to impose some taxes and charges; and calculate vehicle taxes based on the purchase price. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

Initiative Measure No. 944
Initiative Measure No. 944 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees. This measure would set annual license fees for certain vehicles at $30 with exceptions; repeal or limit authority to impose some taxes and charges; and calculate vehicle taxes based on the purchase price. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

Initiative Measure No. 947
Initiative Measure No. 947 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees. This measure would set annual license fees for certain vehicles at $30 with exceptions; repeal or limit authority to impose some taxes and charges; and calculate vehicle-taxes using the Kelley Blue Book. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

Ballot summary

The following are the ballot summaries for the initiatives:

Initiative Measure No. 892

This measure would set annual license fees for motor vehicles weighing under 10,000 pounds at $30 plus voluntary fees and future voter-approved charges; remove authority for certain taxes and charges including the additional vehicle sales tax and the tax funding regional transit authorities; calculate all vehicle taxes using a depreciation schedule based on recent purchase price; and require regional transit authorities to cease collecting taxes pledged to secure bonds and retire bonds early where allowed.

Initiative Measure No. 915

This measure would set annual license fees for motor vehicles weighing under 10,000 pounds at $30 plus voluntary fees and future voter-approved charges; remove authority for certain taxes and charges including taxes funding regional transit authorities and ferry service; reduce annual fees on electric vehicles; calculate vehicle taxes using depreciation schedules based on recent purchase price; and require regional transit authorities to cease collecting taxes pledged to secure bonds and retire bonds early where allowed.

Initiative Measure No. 923

This measure would set $30 annual license fees for motor vehicles weighing under 10,000 pounds, not including electric-vehicle registration fees, future voter-approved charges, and voluntary fees; repeal certain taxes and charges including taxes funding regional transit authorities and ferry service; calculate vehicle taxes using depreciation schedules based on year of service since the most recent sale; and require regional transit authority retirement, defeasement, or refinancing of certain bonds repaid with motor vehicle taxes or fees.

Initiative Measure No. 941

This measure would set $30 annual license fees for motor vehicles weighing under 10,000 pounds, not including electric-vehicle registration fees, future voter-approved charges, and voluntary fees; repeal certain taxes and charges including taxes funding regional transit authorities and ferry service; calculate vehicle taxes using depreciation schedules based on year of service since the most recent sale; and require regional transit authority retirement, defeasement, or refinancing of certain bonds repaid with motor vehicle taxes or fees.

Initiative Measure No. 944

This measure would set $30 annual license fees for motor vehicles weighing under 10,000 pounds, not including electric-vehicle registration fees, future voter-approved charges, and voluntary fees; repeal certain taxes and charges including taxes funding regional transit authorities and ferry service; calculate vehicle taxes using depreciation schedules based on year of service since the most recent sale; and require regional transit authority retirement, defeasement, or refinancing of certain bonds repaid with motor vehicle taxes or fees.

Initiative Measure No. 947

This measure would set $30 annual license fees for motor vehicles weighing under 10,000 pounds, not including electric-vehicle registration fees, future voter-approved charges, and voluntary fees; repeal certain taxes and charges including taxes funding regional transit authorities and ferry service; calculate vehicle taxes using the vehicle’s base model Kelley Blue Book value; and require retirement, defeasement, or refinancing of certain regional transit authority bonds repaid with motor vehicle taxes or fees.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Washington

To make the 2018 ballot, proponents of Initiatives to the Legislature were required to submit at least 259,622 valid signatures by December 29, 2017. If certified, initiatives are sent to the Washington House of Representatives and Washington State Senate for consideration. The legislature chooses whether to enact the measure, send it to the 2018 ballot alone, or send it to the ballot alongside an alternative proposition.

Tim Eyman and M.J. Fagan filed multiple versions of the initiative with the secretary of state's office in 2017. The first version of the initiative received a ballot title and summary on March 15, 2017.

Version 938 of the initiative was withdrawn on May 24, 2017.

On December 29, 2017, initiative sponsor Tim Eyeman said that enough signatures had not been gathered to get any version of the measure on the 2018 ballot. He attributed the failure to lack of funds to hire paid petitioners to gather signatures along with volunteers.

See also

2018 measures

• 2018 ballot measures
• Taxes on the ballot
• Transportation on the ballot

Washington

• Washington ballot measures
• Washington ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls