Bills would change the way signature gatherers are paid

OLYMPIA -- Secretary of State Sam Reed is supporting legislation making it a crime to pay initiative signature gatherers on a per-signature basis.

To qualify an initiative for the ballot, sponsors first must gather a certain number of valid voter signatures. In recent years, paid signature gatherers were used on most initiatives that reached the ballot.

Reed said Friday that paying on a per-signature basis -- as opposed to paying by the hour or using volunteers -- creates an incentive for initiative workers to forge voter signatures or commit other kinds of fraud.

Reed said other states have documented that fraud is more prevalent when signature gatherers are paid per signature, although election officials in Washington have not charged anyone with such fraud.

Paying by the signature would become a misdemeanor under bills in both the House and Senate.

Tim Eyman, who runs initiatives for a living, and a parade of his supporters lambasted lawmakers Friday during a hearing on the House bill.

"This is like making driving a crime because some people drive drunk," Eyman said.

He and others said that forcing initiative sponsors to pay by the hour would drive up costs to the point where only big businesses and powerful special-interest groups could afford to qualify initiatives.

But the bills have broad support in Olympia, where lawmakers have long complained about a proliferation of initiatives.

So far, 51 legislators -- more than a third of the entire Legislature -- have signed on as sponsors.

Past efforts by Washington state to restrict paid signature gathering have been struck down by federal courts. But in recent years, federal courts have upheld laws in three states that banned per-signature payments.

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com