In Washington, six citizen-initiated ballot measures have been certified to the state Legislature. The ballot initiatives could appear on the ballot on Nov. 5, 2025.
Let’s Go Washington, a political action committee (PAC), was formed to sponsor the initiatives. State Rep. Jim Walsh (R-19), who is also chairman of the Washington Republican Party, filed the initiatives, and Brian Heywood, CEO of Taiyo Pacific Partners, founded the PAC. In Dec. 2023, Let’s Go Washington submitted 2.6 million signatures between the six initiatives.
Rep. Walsh said, “The fact that six initiatives have been introduced in a single year [points] to the urgency the people of Washington feel toward fixing what’s broken in our state. The people are demanding change from Olympia.”
The six citizen-initiated ballot measures are:
- Initiative 2081, which would provide parents with a right, in statute, to review educational materials, receive certain notifications, and opt out of sexual health education.
- Initiative 2109, which would repeal the capital gains excise tax on individuals’ long-term capital assets with capital gains over $250,000.
- Initiative 2111, which would prohibit taxes based on personal income.
- Initiative 2113, which would remove certain restrictions on police officers’ vehicular pursuits.
- Initiative 2117, which would prohibit carbon tax credit trading and repeal provisions of the 2021 Washington Climate Commitment Act (CCA), a state law that provided for a cap-and-invest program intended to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 95% by 2050.
- Initiative 2124, which would allow employees and self-employed individuals to opt out of the state’s long-term services and supports trust health care program, known as WA Cares.
At least 324,516 signatures needed to be verified for each initiative. The office of Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) took a random sample for each initiative. Projections indicated that 77.69% to 82.28% of the submitted signatures were valid depending on initiative.
In Washington, citizen-initiated state statutes are indirect and are called Initiatives to the Legislature. While a direct initiative is placed on the ballot after supporters file the required number of valid signatures, an indirect initiative is first presented to the state legislature. Legislators have a certain number of days, depending on the state, to adopt the initiative into law. Should legislators take no action or reject the initiative, the initiative is put on the ballot for voters to decide.
The Washington State Legislature has until the end of this year’s legislative session to consider the initiatives. The legislative session is expected to adjourn on March 7.
Washington is a Democratic trifecta, meaning Democrats hold the governorship, the state senate, and the state house. The Washington State Democratic Party opposes the six initiatives.
Jeanie Lindsay, a reporter with Northwest News Network, said, “These proposals [are targeting] Democratic priorities, so the Legislature is not going to adopt these.” The initiatives will go on the general election ballot should legislators reject or otherwise not vote on them.
The Let’s Go Washington PAC raised $7.37 million through Dec. 31, 2023. Brian Heywood, who founded the committee, contributed $6.24 million. Brian Heywood said, “Democrats in Washington state have had 40 years [of party control] to fix the damn system, but they can’t seem to get enough of your taxes to satisfy their huge greed.”
The Stop Greed PAC is leading the campaign against the initiatives. The committee has raised $78 through Dec. 31. The campaign issued a statement that said, “These initiatives, sponsored by Washington State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh and funded by multimillionaire Brian Heywood, primarily seek to repeal recently passed laws enacted by our elected representatives to help Washington achieve a cleaner, safer, and more prosperous future. Passage of any of these measures would undo years of collaborative, hard-won progress on climate action, revenue fairness, public safety, and access to healthcare.”
Since 1914, Washington citizens have filed 1,728 Initiatives to the Legislature. Six were enacted by the state legislature and 32 were certified for the ballot. Of the 32 measures on the ballot, 17 (53%) were approved and 15 (47%) were rejected.
