‘Let’s Go Washington’ delivers sixth and final initiative to Secretary of State

The sixth and final initiative sponsored by Let’s Go Washington was delivered this week to the Washington state Secretary of State, just one day shy of the cutoff date for signatures for such measures to appear on the 2024 ballot.

Initiative 2124 would allow Washington residents to opt-out of the WA Cares Fund, a long-term care benefit that was created by the state Legislature in 2019. As the program currently exists, only certain Washingtonians can exempt themselves from the program.

The Washington Cares Fund is a long-term care insurance program that will allow beneficiaries to access up to $36,500 in lifetime benefits, adjusted for inflation, for services such as professional care, medical equipment, and home safety evaluations. Family members who provide care for loved ones also can be compensated under the program.

Most Washington workers began seeing deductions from their payroll to support the program in July of this year, with 0.58% in deductions coming from each paycheck for workers over 18.

The initiative that would overturn the program comes from Republican mega donor and Washington resident Brian Heywood.

In a phone interview with McClatchy, Heywood said that the campaign for signatures on the six initiatives he’s sponsoring was “more successful than I think anyone thought we could be.”

Heywood said he learned from the process that it couldn’t have been done without paid signature-gatherers.

He said nearly 2.7 million signatures were collected in the process, and said that voter modeling showed 54% of the signatures were from Democrats and independents. Heywood said those numbers tell him that the initiatives have “tapped into people,” which makes him overall optimistic they can pass in November.

The other five initiatives already had been turned in to the Secretary of State with enough signatures include an initiative to roll back police pursuit laws passed by the Legislature, and another that would repeal sections of the 2021 Climate Commitment Act, ultimately prohibiting carbon tax credit trading, including “cap and trade” in the state.

An initiative to repeal the capital gains tax statewide also gathered enough signatures, even though only a small percentage of Washingtonians actually pay the tax on the sale of stocks, bonds, and other assets. Earlier this year the tax was upheld as constitutional by the Washington Supreme Court.

Other initiatives include one that would prohibit a state income tax from ever being introduced in Washington, even though Washington’s Constitution already explicitly prohibits an income tax from being imposed on residents. The final initiative would require parental notification in schools, allowing parents and guardians of public-school children to review instructional materials and inspect student records, including health and disciplinary records.

Lawmakers will have to decide whether they will address the initiatives during the legislative session. Alternatives to the initiatives can be proposed by lawmakers, but if the Legislature decides to do nothing, the initiatives will appear as is on the 2024 ballot.

The legislative session begins Monday, Jan. 8.

When asked if he had a message for state lawmakers about the legislation that led to his initiatives, Heywood said he would tell them “shame on you.”

He added that he believes lawmakers have “become so arrogant that they don’t listen to voters.”

The initiatives have not been without criticism since they were introduced.

On Thursday, Jessica Gomez, campaign manager of We Care For WA Cares, said in a news release that millions of Washingtonians “are counting on the WA Cares Fund to help pay for their care in case of injury, illness, or age.”

“By effectively repealing WA Cares, this initiative would force workers to choose between depleting their savings to qualify for Medicaid, or betting on long-term care insurance only the wealthiest can afford,” she wrote.

Two complaints were also filed against Heywood in July with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission, which enforces campaign finance and disclosure laws.

One complaint was for failing to accurately file reports that reflect “in-kind contribution details for the expenditures made, and which initiatives were supported” and the other for “failing to properly disclose the identity of a vendor for some of the in-kind contributions received from Brian Heywood.”

In October, other groups such as SEIU 775, Civic Ventures, Washington Conservation Action, and Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates also signed onto the complaint.

The complaints are still under investigation.

According to the Secretary of State website, Washington was one of the first states to adopt an initiative and referendum process to provide a check over the Legislature in 1912.

Only 24 states have a citizen initiative process to bypass the Legislature, according to reporting by PBS.