(The Center Square) – The Northwest Progressive Institute is blasting state Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, over his decision to officially endorse Initiative 2124, which would make participation in the WA Cares program voluntary. Voters will decide I-2124 this November.
Mullet, who ran for governor but failed to advance beyond the Aug. 6 primary, told The Center Square it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that he supports the initiative.
“I offered to put my name behind the initiative to make it optional because I was always against the policy from day one,” he said. “SEIU [Service Employees International Union] first came to me after the 2017 election about the bill [to create a long-term care program], and I was skeptical of the policy right away.”
The bill didn’t pass in the 2018 session, but then did pass in 2019 and Mullet voted against it.
“They collected $1.3 billion in the first year of this tax and everybody is paying it,” Mullet said. “No matter how little you make, you’re paying it.”
Northwest Progressive Institute, which opposes all four initiatives to the fall ballot, posted on X last week, “State Senator Mark Mullet is the lead signer on the voter’s pamphlet statement urging a yes vote on Brian Heywood and Jim Walsh’s I-2124, which would sabotage the WA Cares long-term care system, triggering its collapse. Mullet is actively working with the right wing to harm WA.”
Mullet is considered a moderate Democrat, who often votes with Republicans on fiscal issues.
“I have come out publicly supporting Kamala Harris, I’m against Donald Trump, and I have a 100% voting record on marriage equality and women’s reproductive healthcare rights, so I hate this false connection,” Mullet said of attempts to align him far-right Republicans.
“This is a fiscal issue, not a social issue, and I have a 100% voting record on the social issues Democrats care about,” he explained.
The voter’s pamphlet argument for I-2124 that Mullet, Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, and Rep. Curtis King, R-Yakima, helped craft, reads in part, “Washington workers should have the choice over whether their hard-earned money is taking to fund the program. Voting ‘yes’ makes the payroll tax voluntary and gives workers the choice to remain in or leave the program.”
The voter’s pamphlet argument against I-2124, which was authored by officials from organization that include AARP and Planned Parenthood, reads, in part, as follows: “Experts report I-2124 will take away Washington long-term care insurance program that covers us when we are disabled, ill or aging. It will take away our only affordable and guaranteed coverage available because Medicare and private health insurance do not cover long-term care, which 70% of us will need at some point.”
Mullet explained that “There was a lot of back and forth on that language to get to a consensus. I was working with people I felt very comfortable with.”
The state senator is convinced at least two of the four initiatives on the Nov. 5 ballot will pass.
“This initiative and the gas initiative [Initiative 2066 to ensure natural gas is not phased out] I expect to pass with a substantial margin,” Mullet predicted. “I think the other two will be pretty close.”
The other two are Initiative 2109 to repeal the state’s capital gains tax and Initiative 2117 to repeal sections of the state’s Climate Commitment Act and end cap-and-trade programs.
The Washington State Employment Security Department and the Department of Social and Health Services administer the WA Cares program and previously told The Center Square that if the opt-out measure passes, workers who have paid into the program will not get that money back.
Employees pay 59 cents on every $100 they earn via a payroll tax. A worker who makes $75,000 a year will have paid about $664 into the program by the time the opt-out provision is an option, assuming the I-2124 is approved.
“There are some people that this makes sense for,” Mullet said. “If they make it optional and people opt out, clearly it wasn’t a good bill to begin with. If they’re all opting out, that’s an indication it wasn’t a good policy from the start.”
A statement from Brian Heywood with Let’s Go Washington, the group behind three of the four initiatives, emailed The Center Square a statement about Mullet’s endorsement of I-2124.
“Senator Mullet is a common-sense legislator, and our initiatives are common sense solutions to problems created by a Legislature that has lost sight of its goals for the people of Washington state. We applaud Senator Mullet and are grateful for his willingness to stand up for what’s right. We look forward to many more legislators on both sides of the aisle joining us in fixing what’s broken,” Heywood said.
