The six initiatives to the Legislature that were filed before the session have been certified by the Secretary of State with enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. They have not, however, been scheduled for hearings yet.

• I-2109 Repeals the state’s capital gains tax.
• I-2111 Prohibits the state, counties, cities, and other local jurisdictions from imposing or collecting income taxes. 
• I-2113 Removes restrictions on police pursuits and would allow pursuits upon reasonable suspicion of a crime and posing a threat to the safety of others.
• I-2117 Repeals the state’s cap and invest program adopted as part of the Climate Commitment Act.
• I-2124 Allows employees to opt out of the state’s long-term care program at any time.
• I-2081 Concerns parental rights relating to their children’s public school education.

These initiatives have been introduced in the Legislature, which can take three actions:

• Adopt the initiative into law as presented.;
• Adopt an alternative to the initiative, and then both the alternative and the original initiative are sent to the voters.
• Take no action and allow the initiative to go to the voters.

The next step in the process—hearings on the proposed initiatives, have not yet been scheduled. Legislative leaders have indicated that they are waiting for more complete fiscal and legal analysis prior to scheduling them for hearings. The initiatives are not subject to the standard cut-off deadlines. They will be treated like legislation during the session and then be placed on the ballot for the November general election, unless the Legislature passes them into law.

Six ballot initiatives for 2024 likely going to the Legislature, then the voters

January 5, 2024

Sponsors turned in signatures between November and December for six initiatives to the Legislature. The Secretary of State is now in the process of verifying the signatures to certify the initiatives. In Washington there are two types of initiatives:

Initiatives to the People

Initiatives to the people go directly to the ballot and have an early deadline for submitting signatures. July 7 was the deadline for submitting signatures for initiatives to the people.

Initiatives to the Legislature

Initiatives to the legislature go first to the Legislature for consideration. The deadline to submit an initiative to the Legislature was December 29, 2023 and requires 324,516 signatures to qualify.

When an initiative is submitted to the Legislature, the Legislature has three options:

• Adopt into law the initiative as presented.
• Adopt an alternative to the initiative and then both the alternative and the original initiatives are sent to the voters.
• Do nothing and allow the initiative to go to the voters.

The six initiatives that had signatures submitted to the Secretary of State’s office by the deadline all have the same underlying sponsor and were all submitted by the same person. You can find the details and complete text of each of these by visiting the Secretary of State’s website.

• I-2109 Repeals the state’s capital gains tax.
• I-2111 Prohibits the state, counties, cities, other local jurisdictions from imposing or collecting income taxes.
• I-2113 Removes restrictions on police pursuits and would allow pursuits upon reasonable suspicion of a crime and posing a threat to the safety of others.
• I-2117 Repeals the state’s cap and invest program adopted as part of the Climate Commitment Act.
• I-2124 Allows employees to opt out of the state’s long-term care program at any time.
• I-2081 Concerns parental rights relating to their children’s public school education.

Five of the measures would have some impact directly or indirectly on cities. Those that repeal state funding programs could impact any state funding that might come to cities from those programs. The initiative on income tax specifically addresses cities’ taxing authority. The change to long-term care could have implications on the cost of that program for employees paying into it. For these reasons, we encourage city officials to stay abreast of the proposals.

The submittal of the initiatives will have a definite impact on the legislative session with legislators grappling with how to respond or whether to respond. There are also questions about proposals to modify things like the Climate Commitment Act and whether those would be considered alternatives that would have to go to the ballot. There will also be impacts on budgeting because passage of some of these proposals would significantly impact state funding.

AWC’s role in ballot initiatives

AWC does not take a position on ballot measures. AWC will provide factual educational information on the potential impacts of an initiative on cities if appropriate. City elected officials may take positions on ballot measures, including statewide initiatives, using specific exceptions to the prohibition on use of public resources. City officials should familiarize themselves with PDC rules regarding ballot measures.