(The Center Square) – The Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs announced that he has give preliminary certification for six ballot initiatives that were submitted to the SOS last year. The SOS is now conducting signature verification for the initiatives based off a 3% random sample of signatures.
“Many significant state laws have been adopted due to the initiative process since Washington became one of the first states to enact it in 1912,” Hobbs said in a press release statement. “My office’s responsibility is to ensure it runs fairly, efficiently, and smoothly.”
If officially certified, the Legislature can either approve the initiatives individually reject them, or pass modified versions of them. If the Legislature does not approve the initiatives, they will be placed on the ballot for the November election.
The initiatives would do the following:
I-2113 restore a state law allowing law enforcement to engage in vehicular pursuits based on reasonable suspicion.I-2117 repeal the state’s cap-and-trade program.I-2124 allow residents to opt out of the state long-term care insuranceI-2109 repeal the state’s capital gains income taxI-2111 ban state and local governments from imposing a tax on gross incomeI-2081 allow parents and legal guardians to have access to certain types of public school instructional material as well as student records.
Last year several groups were accused of interfering with the signature gathering process, going as far as to offer money to signature gatherers to spend the month in Florida. A hotline was also set up to allow people to report signature gathering locations and identify persons collecting signatures.
