City of Joint Base Lewis McChord

If passed, Washington Initiative 2109 (I-2109) would repeal Washington's current capital gains excise tax on stock market profits greater than $250,000, eliminating more than $5 billion in funding for early learning, child care, K-12 education, and school construction over the next 5 years. This is a tax break for Washington’s multi-millionaires and billionaires.

All of Washington's kids, no matter their zip code or how much money their parents earn, should have the same access to care and early learning. In its first year, Washington’s capital gains tax funded early learning and schools to the tune of nearly $900 million. This education funding has already prevented Washington’s childcare system from collapsing, avoiding the pitfalls that other states are facing.

The capital gains tax is paid by just 0.2 percent of Washingtonians, all of whom are extremely wealthy. In 2023, 3,300 extremely rich people paid the tax. A new report says this tax is one of the main reasons why Washington no longer has the most regressive tax code in the nation. Some of our state’s wealthiest people have spent the last two years trying to repeal this tax or get it thrown out in court, and they have failed. Now, they’re trying to convince voters to eliminate it for them so they don’t have to pay. 

Without this funding, child care programs will be cut, schools will stay under resourced, and much-needed repairs and construction of schools will grind to a halt. This will hurt working families who rely on child care, students trying to learn with outdated textbooks, and rural communities who need overdue upgrades to crumbling school buildings.

Leading this effort is Republican mega-donor Brian Heywood, who personally spent $6 million to put this measure on the ballot. He and MAGA Republican party chair Jim Walsh would rather deprive our kids of learning opportunities than pay what they actually owe in taxes. Vote no on I-2109.

The Climate Commitment Act (CCA) makes big polluters pay for the harm they cause to our air, water, and communities. I-2117 would eliminate the CCA and ban Washington from ever creating something similar. Washington voters have long supported statewide efforts to protect our health climate-changing pollution. Initiative 2117 (I-2117) is a multi-millionaire funded initiative that seeks to overturn that progress. It would revoke the 2021 Climate Commitment Act that protects the air we breathe and the water we drink using funds raised by making polluters pay for the damage that they cause.

Voting no on I-2117 is critical for our environment and communities. Without the funds raised by the CCA, a huge number of programs would be terminated, threatened, or reduced, including restoring fisheries and shorelines, wildfire resilience, preserving natural lands, school-based bike programs, free bus fare for students, updating our ferry system, and increasing the sustainable supply of water. The revenue from the Climate Commitment Act also creates good-paying, local jobs like making homes more energy-efficient, and installing heat pumps and solar panels. Ending this program would result in losing many of these good jobs and prevent the creation of more of them.

Behind this initiative is Republican mega-donor Brian Heywood, who has personally spent more than $6 million to put this measure on the ballot. He’s partnered with MAGA Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh to roll back the ways our elected leaders have made life better in Washington in recent years with no care about the damage to our communities he leaves in his wake.

While fossil fuel corporations make record profits - BP Oil alone made $80 billion last year, a 30 percent increase over 2022 – we the consumers are paying the price with our health. The Climate Commitment Act is our states best shot at creating a healthy future for all of us in Washington. Vote no on I 2117 to keep the CCA in place.

If passed, Washington Initiative 2124 (I-2124) would effectively eliminate long term care coverage for Washington’s seniors by slashing funding for the WA Cares Fund. This would mean millions would go without home care, family caregiving, home modifications, and so much more. 

As we age, 70 percent of us will wind up needing long-term care — getting help with meals, chores, and daily tasks are all things that help us live in our own homes for longer, but many cannot afford this assistance. WA Cares works by automatically contributing 0.58 percent of your paycheck into a fund you can access when you need assistance or long-term care after an accident, surgery or as you age. Eliminating funding for WA Cares means that none of us will be able to access the long-term care benefits we need unless we pay for private insurance. I-2124 would take away benefits from working Washingtonians who have earned them by paying into the system. 

I-2124 is designed to force the WA Cares Fund to fail. By making it optional to pay into the program, it ensures that the fund will not have enough money to operate and it will collapse. Washingtonians will once again only have the option of buying long-term care through expensive private insurers, which typically only the wealthiest can afford. 

Leading the effort to sabotage long-term care is Republican mega-donor Brian Heywood, who has personally spent more than $6 million bankrolling all of this year’s initiatives alongside MAGA Republican Party Chair Rep. Jim Walsh. Their continued efforts to repeal any source of funding for public needs like health care is not just deeply cynical but dangerous for the majority of us. 

Most Washingtonians will need assistance as we age through caregivers or home modifications we need to continue living at home and WA Cares provides that to all of us. This short-sighted, millionaire-powered effort will leave many of us without care. Vote no on I-2124 and reject this attempt to repeal WA Cares.