Natural gas supporters argue judge is intentionally delaying fight over I-2066

Thursday marks 48 days since King County Superior Court Judge Sandra Widlan struck down an initiative protecting natural gas as an energy choice in Washington. Her order has yet to be entered into the official court record.

On March 21, Widlan ruled the scope of Initiative 2066, approved by voters in November, was too broad and violated the state Constitution’s single-subject requirement, thereby invalidating the initiative.

However, until the order is officially filed in the court record, challengers cannot ask the state Supreme Court to consider an appeal.

Building Industry Association of Washington Executive Vice President Greg Lane told The Center Square he believes the judge is intentionally delaying entering the order.

BIAW is the sponsor of the campaign in support of I-2066.

“Typically, you know, the order gets filed within a couple [of] days of a judge making a decision like this, so for it to have taken this long to get a final order in place is extremely irregular, unusual, and really unheard of,” he elaborated. “The only conclusion we can draw, frankly, is that it's an intentional strategy, and I truly believe that's the case.”

Lane said BIAW intends to appeal to the state Supreme Court, but can’t until the order has been filed.

“All of the hearing dates for the Supreme Court have been filled, so we will not be able to get the appeal heard by the Supreme Court until the fall because they take a summer recess, and I think this is very intentional to try and delay our access to the Supreme Court as long as they can,” he said.

He continued: “It’s frustrating because we have no recourse. We can't file a petition with the court. There is no step that we can take to make that happen. It is solely in her hands, and it's just another slap in the face to the 546,000 people who signed the initiative and the nearly 2 million who voted for 2066.”

As the order has not officially been filed by the court, I-2066 is technically still in place, leaving local jurisdictions in limbo regarding building codes.

The Washington State Building Code Council website states: “There has been confusion over the WA energy codes and the passage of I-2066, and how the codes should be enforced. The Council has debated this at length and heard from the public. There are numerous laws that require the WA energy codes to meet certain requirements, including increasing energy efficiency, meeting requirements for cost, a public process, and the I-2066 initiative. The Council is investigating any changes necessary, if needed to bring the codes into compliance with the requirements under I-2066 and all other relevant laws. Until such time as the Council adopts any changes, the current 2021 codes will remain in place.”

The Center Square reached out to Widlan via email and phone about the delayed order, but did not receive a response.

“We need resolution on this, but most importantly, again, the voters need to have their day in court,” Lane said. “So, her highly unusual delay in doing this – and I believe intentional delay of doing this – is preventing the will of the voters from being heard at the Supreme Court.”