OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Got ideas?

Washington state initiative sponsors have plenty, dealing with everything from gay rights and illegal immigrants to fining motorists who don't promptly merge into traffic and extending capital punishment to those who electioneer at poll sites or foul up elections.

Even the pressing issue of whether we should have a state amphibian is up for debate.

As key deadlines approach, though, most proposals are going nowhere.

It only costs $5 to file an initiative and a flurry of 35 bright ideas are proposed for the fall statewide ballot. Another five initiatives to the Legislature - four from the initiative factory of Tim Eyman - also are on file and two new state laws are being challenged by referendum.

But filing is the easy, cheap part.

It takes nearly a quarter of a million voter signatures to make the ballot - and that typically means hiring signature-gatherers, costing sponsors $300,000 or more.

Sponsors are scrambling: Signature deadline is next Friday.

Referendum sponsors need fewer names and have until July 21. Initiatives being routed through the Legislature don't have to submit signatures before Jan. 4.

The sheer number of initiatives filed this year is misleading, since very few, and perhaps only one, are expected to make the ballot, said Secretary of State Sam Reed. In a typical year, between three and five qualify.

"It's so inexpensive to file an initiative and sometimes sponsors are looking for their 15 minutes of fame and not actually thinking they'll get on the ballot," he said.

As initiative scholar Todd Donovan puts it, "It only costs $5 to be silly."

Some legislative critics tried to jack up the filing fee to $100 to discourage frivolous initiatives and to recoup part of the state's costs. But the House blocked the bill, fearing it would be seen as an attack on citizens' access to power.

Reed and other initiative-watchers said Eyman's I-960 could be the only one that makes the ballot, not counting an insurance referendum and four constitutional amendments. Eyman's measure deals with the supermajority requirement to raise taxes in Olympia and much broader disclosure of information on all tax proposals.

Eyman, whose campaign has raised roughly $550,000, including $400,000 from Kirkland investment executive Mike Dunmire, calls it "a very popular initiative, very straightforward."

An initiative seeking to overturn last year's gay civil rights law has been dropped, as has a measure that came from the opposite perspective. Gregory Paul Gadow, a computer programmer from Seattle, drew national attention for his plan to limit marriage to couples who procreate within three years of the nuptials, a commentary on the broader debate about same-sex marriage.

Sponsors of a crackdown on public services for illegal immigrants said they still hope to qualify for the ballot. Bob Baker, a pilot from Mercer Island, said he has over 100,000 signatures in hand and that backers in Yakima, Wenatchee and Spokane may put the issue over the top.

I-966 says an applicant for medical, food stamps, housing and other benefits could qualify only after proving U.S. citizenship.

Another proposed initiatives would replace the Seattle viaduct with a floating bridge along Elliott Bay. Others deal with universal health coverage and dental care. Another would ban "pain and suffering" damage awards.

One initiative would expand the death penalty to certain drug offenses and election violations, including campaigning near a polling place or mishandling vote tallies.

Another sponsor would require public online votes on all state and local laws and state Supreme Court rulings before they could take effect. A rival plan takes the opposite tack, mandating state government to bar from the ballot all "dangerous" initiatives. Another would mandate voter registration of all adults.

Several sponsors filed multiple initiatives, most notably a Tacoma CAT scan technician, David Henshaw, who submitted 12. They deal with everything from making it a crime to "lie about the war" and replacing car-tab renewal fees with a higher gas tax, to requiring lobbyists' conversations with politicians to be taped and disclosed, and imposing a $50 fine for every car one passes before properly merging into traffic.

Two referenda were filed to overturn actions of the 2007 Legislature. R-67, considered likely to make the ballot, would let voters decide whether to keep the new Insurance Fair Conduct Act that allows consumers to sue their companies for triple damages for unreasonably denying a claim.

Referendum sponsors, including the Liability Reform Coalition and insurance companies, have mounted a well-heeled drive and are reasonably optimistic of gathering 112,440 signatures by July 21, said spokeswoman Dana Childers.

Another referendum would erase the Legislature's designation of the Pacific chorus frog as the state's official amphibian, though that one isn't expected to qualify for the ballot.