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Cut energy costs for consumers.
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Repeal regulations on the most restrictive building and energy codes in the nation.
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Stop the state from forcing homeowners to spend tens of thousands of dollars to convert their homes to all electric.
The Initiatives
Olympia doesn’t have a money problem, it has a priorities problem.
Let’s fix what’s broken.
I-2066
STOP THE GAS BAN
Protect Energy Choice
This measure would require utilities and local governments to provide natural gas to eligible customers; prevent state approval of rate plans requiring or incentivizing gas service termination, restricting access to gas service, or making it cost-prohibitive; and prohibit the state energy code, localities, and air pollution control agencies from penalizing gas use. It would repeal sections of chapter 351, Laws of 2024, including planning requirements for cost-effective electrification and prohibitions on gas rebates and incentives.
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- At 2 in the morning on the second to last day of session, Jay Inslee was twisting the arms of legislators to get them to pass HB 1589: a planning bill that would give Puget Sound Energy the power to refuse natural gas service to customers and the authority to mandate that homes and businesses retrofit their buildings to electric.
- Washingtonians across the state called their legislators to oppose the bill since more than 1.3 million homes and more than a third of manufacturers in the state rely on natural gas. When the legislature passed the bill anyway, I-2066 was introduced to protect natural gas and energy choice and go beyond the restrictions of HB 1589.
- It would cost each individual home or business owner anywhere from $40,000-$70,000 to retrofit their building to electric, and based on the fact that 40% of PSE customers already require assistance on their bills, it’s not likely that most people would be able to afford that unnecessary cost.
- Natural gas is the most reliable and cheapest option for most residents in the state
- Forcing people off of a reliable and affordable energy source to meet an arbitrary state-made goal clearly puts policy over people.
- Its impact on the environment is so negligible that just a few years ago, the Washington State Department of Transportation was transitioning all public transit off of diesel and onto clean natural gas.
- In rural parts of the state, natural gas is all residents have in freezing winters when their electric heat pumps fail or stop producing adequate heat.
- Most of PSE’s grid relies on the availability of natural gas to be able to supplement shortcomings in electric power.
- Many small businesses and locally owned shops need natural gas to provide the top-tier products they create: breweries, bakeries, pizza shops, construction companies, culturally diverse restaurants, grocery stores, laundromats, and more all rely on the availability of natural gas.
- Over 550,000 signatures were turned in to support I-2066 because it provides a choice for Washingtonians, not a blanket mandate that was instituted by Inslee’s climate mob working to make people’s lives more difficult.
- Vote yes to protect the availability of natural gas for people on fixed incomes, in rural parts of the state, and whose businesses rely on it for their income.
Endorsed by
I-2109
REPEAL THE CAPITAL GAINS TAX
Don't Punish Innovators & Small Businesses
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Stop the unfair tax on small businesses.
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Repeal a 7% tax on personal assets.
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Stop the legislature’s plan to institute an income tax for earners at every level.
This measure would repeal an excise tax imposed on the sale or exchange of certain long-term capital assets by individuals who have annual capital gains of over $250,000.
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- The Washington State legislature enacted the additional 7% tax on small businesses and innovators in 2021
- The backdoor income tax applies to sales on capital gains over $250,000 and is a direct attack on innovators coming into the state, successful residents staying in the state, and tech industry workers and small businesses.
- Just this year, the majority party authored a bill this year that would have lowered the threshold for capital gains income taxes to $15,000 instead of only applying to sales of $250,000
- Senator Jamie Pedersen, a Democrat leader in the legislature, has made it clear that he and his colleagues plan to use the capital gains tax as a way to implement an income tax for all Washingtonians
- The official start date of the capital gains income tax was pushed back because a Washington State superior court struck down the law as unconstitutional, since our state constitution makes progressive income taxes illegal
- According to every other state with a capital gains tax, the IRS, the dictionary, and most legal scholars, capital gains are technically income, the Washington State court made the right ruling in this case.
- However, Jay Inslee’s handpicked State Supreme Court made the unprecedented decision to go against the rest of the nation, the dictionary and the IRS and claim capital gains are not income, but are excise taxes
- The implications from such a ruling is that the government could theoretically start taxing Washingtonians for purchasing products outside of the state
- Voters have voted down an income tax 7 times before and if the law and the courts honored the true meaning of a capital gains tax, this measure wouldn’t be up for a vote in the first place.
- The capital gains income tax has already forced many successful residents out of the state because they would rather move than have their assets taxed so unfairly.
- Jeff Bezos sold his stocks and assets faithfully every year until the capital gains income tax was implemented, then he packed up and moved to Florida to continue selling without the tax
- The same will happen for small businesses, innovators and successful residents in the state who are the most mobile and can decide to take their tax dollars, innovation, and job creation elsewhere – we must encourage innovation instead of taxing the successful out of moving to the state.
Endorsed by
I-2117
STOP THE HIDDEN GAS TAX
The Carbon Tax = Higher Gas Prices
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Done nothing to curb carbon emissions.
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Increased gas prices by nearly $0.50 per gallon and driven up energy costs by 40%.
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Spent more money on government planning than wildfire
prevention programs.
This measure would prohibit state agencies from imposing any type of carbon tax credit trading, including “cap and trade” or “cap and tax” programs, regardless of whether the resulting increased costs are imposed on fuel recipients or fuel suppliers. It would repeal sections of the 2021 Washington Climate Commitment Act as amended, including repealing the creation and modification of a “cap and invest” program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by specific entities.
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- The CCA was enacted in 2023 and prices at the gas pump, in the grocery store and the costs to power homes and businesses immediately increased.
- This tax trickles down to consumers in a number of ways:
- The carbon auction has increased prices on gasoline production and producers pass the increase directly down to drivers to the tune of $0.30-$0.50 per gallon of gas – the average household will spend upwards of $500 per year on the gas tax.
- Delivery services and drivers are forced to pay more to deliver goods – when their prices increase, so do prices in stores and for their services.
- Energy costs have increased nearly 40% for most Washingtonians and energy providers are restricted from listing the CCA as the reason on your bill.
- All of this amounts to the most regressive tax in state history because the lower the income, the more it hurts.
- Governor Inslee and his administration lied to residents by claiming that the CCA would only increase costs by “pennies” even when he knew it would increase about $0.50 per gallon.
- The CCA has missed every goal it has created for itself and Washington is behind on every climate goal, even as the government continues to take more of our money:
- Washington is supposed to shift all cars to electric by 2035, but is too far behind to make up the time lost
- Inslee administration took down the only government-run website that offered transparency on the CCA because they had nothing positive to report
- Washington State is recycling less and creating more trash
- Inslee and his administration haven’t released any metrics on their environmental policy successes since 2019 and there is no mechanism to track the success or failure of the CCA
- Our state constitution guarantees funding for schools and the state has a $19 billion surplus over the last 6 years – supporters should rest easy knowing that they will simply be saving money when the CCA is repealed, not creating funding holes, as the opposition argues.
- Likewise, CCA funds are not used on road or bridge maintenance projects, so opposition arguments that transportation services and projects will be halted are incorrect.
- The only thing the CCA has been successful at is raising costs and taking more of Washingtonian’s hard-earned money – it’s time to stop paying for programs that don’t work.
Endorsed by
I-2124
OPT OUT OF STATE-RUN LONG TERM CARE COVERAGE ACT
Give Workers a Choice
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Providing an option to opt-out of the state-run program.
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Finding plans that fit their budget better to give them a benefit they can use without a $36,500 cap.
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Repealing the $0.58 tax on every $100 earned.
This measure would amend state law establishing a state long term care insurance program to provide that employees and self-employed people must elect to keep coverage under RCW 50B.04, allow employees to opt-out of coverage under RCW 50B.04 at any time, and repeal a current law governing exemptions for employees who had purchased long term care insurance before November 1, 2021.
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- WA Cares is the state’s one-size-fits-all solution to long-term care that requires a 10 year continuous pay-in period in order to receive a $36,500 lifetime benefit.
- The program became operational after two years of delay even though voters rejected the funding mechanism twice.
- The payroll tax takes 0.58% out of every paycheck, or $0.58 on every $100 earned and requires every worker to be opted-in to the program, even if it isn’t suitable for them.
- The average cost of long term care in Washington State is anywhere from $7,500-$14,000 per month: that means that WA Cares will only cover about 5 months of long term care for residents at best.
- The state actuary released a report that proved WA Cares is in such a bad financial state that it will take millions of dollars over the next 75 years for people to actually see benefits from the program.
- The program is predatory and doesn’t make sense for:
- Elderly working population nearing retirement age who have been forced to pay into the program to see no benefits from it.
- Mothers and fathers who take 5 years or more out of the workforce to raise their families.
- Private caregivers who take time away from their jobs to care for a loved one.
- Disabled workers who have to take time away from their jobs for their own health.
- I-2124 simply makes WA Cares optional instead of forcing all workers into a mandatory payroll tax that they will likely never see benefits from.
- Each person’s health and wellness is their own business and people should have the authority and autonomy to select a healthcare program that works for their needs and their bottom line.
- Give workers a choice with I-2124
Endorsed by
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