Voters to decide fate of four initiatives in November

OLYMPIA — Washington voters will be considering ballot measures to repeal two specific taxes and allow Washington residents to opt out of a third in the Nov. 5 general election. A fourth initiative would prohibit banning natural gas as an option for Washington residents.

Initiative 2117 would repeal the Climate Commitment Act passed by the Washington Legislature in 2021, according to the website Ballotpedia. The law sets limits on the amount of carbon that can be emitted into the atmosphere and requires companies that go over those limits to buy allowances. Initiative 2117 would prohibit state agencies from continuing to implement carbon tax credit trading, also called cap and trade, according to the initiative.

Initiative 2124 would allow state residents to opt out of the WA Cares fund, Ballotpedia said. The fund was created by the legislature in 2019 as an extended care insurance program and is funded with a mandatory tax. As of 2023, the tax was 58 cents per $100 of earnings. Benefits are limited to $36,500 per person over their lifetime. 

Initiative 2124 would require Washington residents to opt out and instead would require them to sign up for the program, rather than paying a mandatory tax. People would have the option to opt out at any time.  

Initiative 2066 would prohibit state and local governments from restricting access to natural gas for residents and businesses. The initiative would require companies and jurisdictions that have natural gas to provide residents with natural gas if they ask for it, regardless of other options available. It also would prohibit the state’s building code council from prohibiting, penalizing or discouraging the use of natural gas, Ballotpedia said. 

Initiative 2066 also would repeal a state law, House Bill 1589, approved earlier this year that requires the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to assess alternatives to existing and planned natural gas infrastructure projects and to work to implement cost-effective electrification of businesses and residences currently using natural gas. 

Initiative 2109 would repeal a tax on capital gains imposed by the legislature in 2021, Ballotpedia said. The 7% tax is imposed on sales of more than $250,000 on some capital assets, including stocks and bonds, business interests or other investments or assets. Real estate, some retirement accounts, and some business assets are exempt. The Washington Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the capital gains tax was not an income tax, and as a result did not violate the Washington Constitution’s prohibition on an income tax. 

Representative Tom Dent (R-Moses Lake) and Senator Judy Warnick (R-Moses Lake) both spoke in support of all four initiatives during a forum at American Legion Post 28 in Ephrata Oct. 24.  

“I should say, the way that we view these four initiatives is ‘Vote yes, and pay less,’” Dent said. 

Initiative 2066 

Dent said he supported Initiative 2066 because while the legislature didn’t ban natural gas, the law makes it more difficult to use and opens the door to a ban. At the moment, phasing out natural gas is impractical, he said. 

“There’s a big push in the state of Washington that we do everything electric,” Dent said. “Well, we don’t have enough power generation to (convert) everything to electric. We don’t have it, and we’re a ways from getting it.” 

Dent said there is discussion of alternative sources like small nuclear reactors, but that they are a decade or more from construction.  

“It takes a while to do this stuff, and without some kind of support on this, it’s not going to happen,” he said.  

In addition, Dent said he thought Democrats in the House strong-armed members of their caucus to pass HB 1589. 

“In the (Washington) House they didn’t have the votes. The votes were not there to pass this as a bill to create this,” he said. 

“This bill probably bothered me than anything in the 10 years I’ve been there,” he said. “That’s not what we’re there for.” 

Warnick said in the Senate, the bill had to be withdrawn and rewritten.  

“That bothered me, because they were in such a big hurry to get this pushed through,” she said.  

Dan Weisbeck, communications and outreach manager for the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle and King County, said his organization opposes the initiative because it would slow down the effort to make Washington more energy efficient. 

“Initiative 2066 would end incentives that support the development of energy-efficient affordable housing,” Weisbeck wrote in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “It would harm Washington’s energy efficiency efforts and take away consumers’ energy choices.”  

Passing the initiative would increase energy costs, Weisbeck said.  

Initiative 2109 

Dent said he supported Initiative 2109 because in his opinion the capital gains tax is in fact an income tax and is unconstitutional. In addition, Dent said, while the tax currently applies to capital gains more than $250,000, the legislature has the option to lower it. 

“A tax takes either 60% or two-thirds (majority) to pass, but once it’s passed, now they can lower the amount by a simple majority,” Dent said. 

Warnick said the state has options to fund its programs than capital gains. 

Opponents of Initiative 2019 were asked why they opposed it, but did not respond 

Initiative 2117 

Warnick said the Climate Commitment Act has not lived up to the assumptions and projections made when it was passed. Proponents said the CCA would have little impact on the price of fuel and in her opinion that’s not what happened.  

Dent said proponents said the impact would be a few cents per gallon of fuel, which has not turned out to be the case.  

“Only pennies per gallon,” Dent said. “Well for the gasoline it’s over 40 pennies per gallon, and diesel turned out to be more like 62 pennies (per gallon)." 

Dent said it’s also not clear how the money collected is being spent.  

Kelsey Nyland of the No on 2117 campaign disputed that the CCA had contributed to a rise in fuel prices. The money raised through the CCA goes back to communities in the form of projects that improve transportation options, she said.  

In addition, passing the initiative would increase pollution and reduce funding for what the group sees as important transportation projects, Nyland said. 

Initiative 2124 

Warnick said she thought she was misled when she was first approached about the legislation that started the WA Cares program. Initiative 2124 would make participation in WA Cares voluntary.  

“When I first started discussing it, I thought it was going to be a voluntary program. But then I realized, no it’s not (voluntary),” she said. 

Warnick said the program as it is currently set up is not very useful. 

“The maximum (lifetime) benefit is $36,000 – that's not going to keep you in a nursing home very long,” she said. 

Kristin Hyde of the No on 1-2124 campaign said the initiative would reduce funding for the program and put the benefit in jeopardy.  

“In effect, I-2124 is a repeal effort in disguise that only benefits long-term care private insurance companies that charge expensive premiums and reject people with pre-existing conditions,” she wrote in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald.  

The initiatives in brief:

Initiative 2117 

Would repeal the Climate Commitment Act and prohibit the implementation of carbon tax credit trading. 

Initiative 2124 

Would revise WA Cares program, which is now a mandatory tax, to allow people to opt into or out of the program. 

Initiative 2109 

Would repeal a law passed in 2021 that taxes capital gains transactions of more than $250,000.  

Initiative 2066 

Would prohibit state and local governments from restricting access to natural gas to residents and businesses.