Judge Rejects Complaint Seeking to Block Minimum Wage Initiative from SeaTac Ballot

Alaska Airlines and the Washington Restaurant Association (WRA) lost round one of their legal battle to keep the Good Jobs Initiative off the City of SeaTac's November ballot, when a King County Superior Court judge rejected their arguments Friday that it was outside the scope of the voters' initiative powers. Among other things, the Good Jobs Initiative would raise the minimum wage for certain airport and hospitality workers to $15 and hour.

The judge's decision wasn't much of a surprise. As I've previously explained, from a legal perspective, the Alaska/WRA arguments were kinda stupid—more an argument crafted for the court of public opinion than a court of law. That's not to say that Alaska/WRA might not prevail post-ballot—no Washington municipality has previously attempted to set its own minimum wage, so there is some unsettled law here—but they don't make much of a compelling scope argument.

FYI, there are many in Seattle watching the SeaTac initiative closely. If it makes it to the ballot and is approved by voters and survives the inevitable legal (and possibly legislative) challenges, expect to see an effort to raise Seattle's minimum wage above the state level, sometime over the next couple years. All the major mayoral and council candidates we've talked to seem open to the idea, and it would likely prove popular with voters.