Washington Democrats still think schools should have more say over your child than you do.
Democrats’ War on Parents Heads to the Ballot
Washington voters will get the final say this November on Initiative 001, a parental rights measure that would restore requirements for schools to notify parents when their children seek certain non-emergency medical services or mental health counseling at school.
The measure, backed by Let’s Go Washington, is essentially a fight over whether parents—or government schools—should be in charge when it comes to their children.
Washington’s current law allows students 13 and older to consent to certain services without their parents’ knowledge, including circumstances where they can leave campus to receive care without notifying a parent.
Voters already approved parental-rights protections through I-2081 in 2024, but Democrats in Olympia subsequently passed HB 1296, which changed those requirements and placed greater emphasis on student privacy. Democrats argued the changes were necessary to protect vulnerable students, including LGBTQ youth.
When I-001 came before the Legislature in 2026, Democrats refused to give it a public hearing, sending the measure directly to voters instead.
Now Washington parents get the hearing Democrats wouldn’t give them.
The issue is simple: schools shouldn’t be allowed to keep major medical, mental-health or other personal information about a child from that child’s parents.
Washington voters will have an opportunity to protect families on Nov. 3. Read more at The Center Square.
Inslee Calls Repealing a Tax That Hasn’t Collected a Dime a “Tax Break”
Former Gov. Jay Inslee is getting mocked after claiming that repealing Washington’s new 9.9% income tax on household income above $1 million would amount to giving “tax breaks” to hedge fund millionaires.
The problem with that argument is pretty simple: the tax hasn’t collected a dime yet. The tax, signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson this spring, doesn’t take effect until 2028, with the state not expecting revenue until 2029. Initiative 645 would repeal it before that happens.
Inslee made the comments while attacking Let’s Go Washington founder Brian Heywood, prompting a well deserved barrage of mockery from Heywood and others over the former governor’s record—including his 12 years running the state.
Republicans also pointed out the obvious distinction: repealing a tax before it takes effect isn’t a “tax break” in the conventional sense. It’s stopping a new tax from being imposed in the first place.
And Inslee’s argument that Washington needs the tax to fund schools, child care and health care raises another question: after 12 years as governor, why are Democrats still arguing that the state simply needs to take more money from taxpayers to fund basic government services? Read more at Seattle Red.
Democrat Lawmaker Fined $15,000 for Ethics Violations
Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, was hit with a $15,000 fine—the maximum penalty—for three ethics violationsafter the Legislative Ethics Board found she improperly used her position to help steer a $1 million state grant toward a nonprofit where she worked and earned $120,000 a year.
The board also found Simmons improperly intervened in a dispute to preserve the nonprofit’s funding and attempted to retaliate against the person who filed the ethics complaint.
Simmons denies wrongdoing and plans to appeal, saying the punishment was excessive.
Conveniently, she also just won her Democratic primary 57.3% to 39% and will face fellow Democrat Daria Ilgen again in November.
Three ethics violations. Fifteen grand. One reelection campaign. Nothing to see here, apparently. Read more at the Washington State Standard.
Ferguson’s Office Sat on a Massive Climate Data Blunder
Axios is reporting that Washington state officials discovered that they had vastly overstated the climate benefits of projects funded through the Democrats’ cap-and-trade program, but the public didn’t find out for weeks.
Officials initially claimed the Climate Commitment Act-funded projects would cut 8.6 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The correct figure? Just 1.2 million metric tons—meaning the state had overstated the claimed reductions by more than 600%.
The Department of Ecology was ready to publicly acknowledge the mistake in December, with officials writing that, given the size of the error, the state needed to “publicly acknowledge and take responsibility.” But emails obtained by Axios show Ferguson’s office required another review before allowing the correction to go out.
The correction finally landed on Jan. 6—hours after Washington Policy Center’s Todd Myers publicly exposed the discrepancy.
Ferguson’s office says the additional review was needed to verify the error and prevent future mistakes. Conveniently, though, the public didn’t hear about the massive error until Myers forced the issue.
And this isn’t happening in a vacuum. Ferguson’s office has imposed a policy requiring most state agency communications with the media to receive approval from the governor’s office.
When the government gets its climate numbers wrong by more than 600%, taxpayers deserve a correction—not a communications strategy designed to keep the embarrassment under wraps. Read more at Axios.
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