(The Center Square) – A Washington state appeals court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could impact the Climate Commitment Act and taxpayers.
The case was originally filed in July 2023 by a private citizen and Oak Harbor Freight Lines in Thurston County Superior Court against a state transportation revenue bill passed in 2022. The plaintiffs argued the $17 billion transportation package in the form of Senate Bill 5974 violated the state constitution’s single-subject requirement.
Under Article 2 Section 19, the state constitution stipulates that “no bill shall embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.”
In Sept. 2023 a Thurston County Superior Court judge upheld the 2022 law, citing prior court rulings that set precedent for the constitutional provision in which it should be “liberally construed in favor of the legislation.”
Plaintiffs had asked that the Washington Supreme Court hear the appeal.
On Tuesday the plaintiffs, represented by the Citizen Action Defense Fund , argued an appeal of that ruling before three members of the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division II, in Tacoma.