Members of the Metropolitan King County Council today introduced a motion directing the County Executive to examine the potential financial impacts that the passage of Initiative 933 would have on King County taxpayers.

I-933 would require local governments to consider and document certain factors prior to enacting laws regulating private property. It would also require governments to compensate private property owners who could show that the use or value of their property has been affected by land use regulations adopted since 1996.

Council Chair Larry Phillips and Councilmember Dow Constantine, chair of the Council’s Annual Budget Reconciliation and Adoption Committee, co-sponsored the motion. The legislation directs the Executive to present the Council with a fiscal analysis of the impacts that passage of state Initiative 933 would have on the County. The motion also directs the Executive to identify King County regulations that may be waived under its own authority and council actions that must be undertaken to request legislative authority from the state to waive land use regulations that cannot be waived by the county under current state law.

“Fiscal analysis of Initiative 933 is necessary to help us make the correct assumptions for the 2007 budget,” said Councilmember Phillips. “It’s important to understand the potential impacts of the initiative as we move ahead with budget deliberations and adoption.”

“Both supporters and opponents of this measure have stated what they think I-933 could cost taxpayers. What we need is a clear, independent analysis of the potential financial impacts on King County,” said Councilmember Constantine.

Read more about this legislation on the King County Council’s LEGISEARCH system and type in “2006-0461”