ACLU and advocates file lawsuit over ‘Compassion Seattle’ ballot initiative

The Washington State Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and two advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit over the November election initiative known as Compassion Seattle that would require the city to build 2,000 homes quickly and then possibly motivate the next mayor to move camps reinforce to keep parks and sidewalks clear.

The complaint filed in the King County Superior Court argues that the tactics of Charter Amendment 29 to accomplish these things – an amendment to the city’s core document, its charter that expires in six years – bend Washington law too far and work in the county contradict level to make the homelessness response in the region less Seattle-centered.

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“(Charter Amendment 29) is misleading voters by filling the bubble on their ballot,” wrote Katie Wilson, secretary general of the Transit Riders Union, one of the other plaintiffs, in a press release. “It gives voters the impression that they are helping to shape the city’s response to homelessness, even though these guidelines are actually illegal and unenforceable because they go beyond the scope of the initiative process.”

The petition reached the vote in November with almost 35,000 signatures.

The lawsuit argues that the electoral initiative exceeds the petitioners’ power to influence homelessness policies. The state code sets guidelines for influencing homelessness policies and a local initiative is not one of them. The lawsuit also argues that the initiative contradicts the recent creation of King County’s regional homelessness agency, the Seattle Mayor, its city councilor, The district board and the district council agreed to promote homelessness policy in the region.

Sponsored by downtown businesses, the initiative has divided the community of the homeless community, with leaders of some organizations praising it and others joining a campaign against it. While the bosses of the United Way and Seattle’s largest downtown animal shelter have lent their votes in support – even though they were unsupported – the Seattle-King County Homelessness Coalition has now spoken out against the measure and has joined the lawsuit as a plaintiff.

Compassion Seattle’s campaign reacted harshly, attacking plaintiffs as a “small group of activists” despite the fact that the Seattle-King County Homelessness Coalition had 77 affiliates in 2019, from lodging to catering programs to housing providers.

“This group has been dictating the homelessness policy of the city of Seattle without accountability for the past decade while the crisis has only worsened,” the campaign said in a statement. “These same activist groups have had an opportunity to address this crisis for years. It is time for the voters to have their say. “

The press release pointed to a poll by the Northwest Progressive Institute that said 61% of Seattle voters would vote “yes” to the constitutional amendment.

The initiative was controversial from the start. The vague wording leaves room for both supporters and opponents to discuss what it would actually achieve. It shared the mayoral candidates in the primaries this month. Among the two winners who will run in the November general election, Bruce Harrell supports them and Lorena Gonzalez is against.

How far the lawsuit will go in court is unclear. Hugh Spitzer, a law professor at the University of Washington, said he was on the losing side of similar litigation.

“The courts tend not to interfere in local decisions,” said Spitzer, and moreover, courts do not like to rule on “nonexistent” laws. “It’s too early. They say you have to wait until it’s either over or not.”

But Knoll Lowney, the attorney who represents the plaintiffs, is confident the lawsuit will succeed as he filed a similar lawsuit against a King County safe injection site ban that was overturned by a judge in 2017, and the Colonel State Court of Justice upheld this ruling.

“These cases happen all the time,” Lowney said. “It’s pretty hard to defend a local initiative or a referendum, and it is unlikely to survive.”

The court will likely have to make a quick decision, according to a spokesman for the King County Electoral Department, also named in the lawsuit. The department will begin sending out ballots on September 18, and the department will start designing later this month.