Initiative 1185 impact on road tolls

There has been some concern expressed that under Initiative 1185 (supermajority for tax increases), a highway or bridge toll increase would be subject to the same two-thirds vote requirement as tax increases. Nothing in the text of the measure supports this interpretation, however. Initiative 1185 does not change the relationship between fee and tax increases in current law. Lt. Governor Brad Owen, as President of the Senate, has already issued parliamentary rulings that road tolls are fees and not subject to the two-thirds vote requirement.The Office of Financial Management (OFM) also defines tolls as fees, not taxes . . . READ MORE