Initiative Measure 91

AN ORDINANCE to Prohibit the City of Seattle from Providing or 
Leasing Facilities or other Goods, Services, or Real Property to 
Professional Sports Organizations at Below Fair Value, and Providing 
A Method to Enforce this Restriction

      Whereas, from time to time, the City of Seattle may lease or 
otherwise provide facilities or services to for-profit professional 
sports organizations and, 
 
      Whereas, the Supreme Court of the State of Washington has 
determined that such provision of facilities or other goods or 
services by a jurisdiction of the State of Washington may be for 
consideration of any value provided that such value be agreed to by 
an appropriate legislative authority, and the terms of such are not 
subject to judicial review; and,
      
      Whereas, the City of Seattle in the past has experienced a 
return below fair value for some goods or services it has provided or 
leased to professional sports teams; and,
 
      Whereas, the Charter of the City of Seattle expressly reserves 
legislative authority for the City of Seattle to the People of the 
City of Seattle; 

      Now, Therefore, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SEATTLE AS 
FOLLOWS: 

  A new provision of the Seattle Municipal Code is added to read as 
follows:

      Sec. 1.  Consideration for the value of goods, services, real 
property or facilities provided or leased by the City of Seattle to 
for-profit professional sports organizations or to any other public 
entity, or non-profit organization, which may in turn provide such 
goods, services, real property or facilities to a for-profit 
professional sports organization, must be at or above the fair value 
of the goods, services, real property or facility being provided or 
leased.    

      Sec. 2.   Fair value is defined herein as no less than the rate 
of return on a U.S. Treasury Bond of thirty years duration at the 
time of inception of any such provision of goods or services, real 
property or lease; and further, such return shall be computed as the 
net cash on cash return, after interest and any financing costs, on 
the depreciated value of the cash investment of the City of Seattle 
in such goods, services, real property or facility, and shall exclude 
all intangible, indirect, non-cash items such as goodwill, cultural 
or general economic benefit to the City, and shall also exclude 
unsecured future cash revenues.

      Sec. 3.   Nothing in this resolution shall prevent the leasing 
or providing of goods, services, real property or facilities to not-
for-profit organizations, other than as limited by Section 1 above, 
for the direct benefit of the health, welfare, or safety of the 
people of the City of Seattle.  

      Sec. 4.    Notwithstanding any of the language contained in 
sections 1 through 3 of this initiative, nothing in this resolution 
shall be interpreted or applied so as to limit or restrict any 
Washington State legislative or constitutional grant of power to the 
legislative authority or other officer of the City of Seattle, and 
the reach of this initiative is expressly circumscribed and limited 
by any such legislative or constitutional grant of power.

      Sec. 5.  Any resident of the City of Seattle shall, by virtue 
of his/her status as a taxpayer in the City, have legal standing to 
challenge, in King County Superior Court, any act, lease, ordinance, 
or resolution taken, entered into, or enacted by the City of Seattle 
which allegedly violates this initiative, within ninety (90) days of 
such act, lease, ordinance or resolution; such a resident shall be 
entitled to injunctive relief preventing said act, lease, ordinance, 
or resolution from becoming effective, without the necessity of any 
bond being posted, so long as the elements necessary to obtain 
injunctive relief pursuant to RCW 7.40.020 are established to the 
satisfaction  of the Court.

      Sec. 6.  If any provision of this act or its application to any 
person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or 
the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances 
shall not be affected.

Init91.htm rev. 5/24/06