In Our View: Voters to decide issues Legislature left on table

With the Legislature passing three voter-driven measures on Monday, a spotlight has been placed on Washington’s initiative system and the foundations of our democracy.

Six initiatives were sent to lawmakers this year, having drawn enough signatures from registered voters to potentially land on the November ballot. For each successful initiative, the Legislature has three options: Pass it as written; make changes and create a referendum that voters can consider alongside the initiative; or leave the initiative alone and let voters decide.

The Legislature this week passed three of them:

• Initiative 2111, which prohibits state and local governments from imposing an income tax. A state income tax is unconstitutional in Washington, and voters on multiple occasions have rejected opportunities to alter that portion of the state Constitution.

Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, and ranking member of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, said the initiative is “codifying what the people have said over the past century — that they do not want an income tax on their income. It is important that this is codified into law.”

• Initiative 2081, which creates a “parents’ bill of rights” defining what information a public school parent is entitled to, including instructional materials. It contains 15 rights, including notification of medical and safety matters, though the provision would not supersede existing laws protecting health privacy.
• Initiative 2113, lifting some restrictions on when police can pursue suspects. Lawmakers had passed measures to limit police chases in 2021 and rolled back some of those restrictions last year. The initiative further scales back the restrictions.

With those actions, lawmakers performed the relatively easy task regarding this year’s initiatives. The other three initiatives deal directly with state revenue and, therefore, are more complex. They also are more ripe for specious claims and strident arguments.

Critics quickly claimed that lawmakers are ignoring the will of the people by not considering initiatives that attracted “800,000 signatures.” Actually, Let’s Go Washington, the organization behind the signature gathering, turned in fewer than 500,000 signatures for each initiative; at least 324,516 signatures from registered Washington voters are required for each measure.

That still is an impressive number; but suggesting that 500,000 or 800,000 signatures unequivocally reflects the “will of the people” in a state with 4.8 million registered voters is absurd. And it reflects the “echo chamber” politics that too often has people on both ends of the spectrum convinced that certitude equals political might.

With the Legislature failing to undertake the issues before the close of the 2024 session, the remaining initiatives will go before voters in November:

• Initiative 2117 would repeal the state’s Climate Commitment Act. Supporters of the measure blame the act for a spike in gas prices, but they fail to mention that nothing in the initiative would prevent oil companies from gouging consumers.
• Initiative 2109 would repeal a capital gains tax that went into effect in 2022.
• Initiative 2124 would allow workers to opt out of a payroll tax that supports the state’s long-term care fund.

Each measure is likely to attract vast funding and extensive debate throughout election season. And regardless of what voters eventually decide, the issues will demonstrate the benefits of an initiative system that places copious power in the hands of the public.