
Brian Heywood
Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with beekeeper and founder of Let’s Go Washington, Brian Heywood who provided us with an update on the six common sense initiatives the organization is attempting to bring to the 2024 Washington State Legislature (and then possibly to the voters). To do so, each initiative will need to obtain more than 324,516 valid signatures of registered Washington State voters by 5:00 PM on December 29, 2023 (Let’s Go Washington is hoping to collect more than 400,000 signatures to ensure there are enough lawful signatures). Qualified initiatives will then be voted on during the 2024 legislature session where lawmakers can 1) pass each initiative into law, 2) place each initiative onto the November 2024 general election ballot to allow the voters to decide, or 3) reject the initiative, but still place it on the 2024 ballot along with a competing measure supported by the legislature.
Let’s Go Washington’s six initiatives are (with links to complete text):
I-2113 to remove unreasonable restrictions on police pursuit.
I-2117 to repeal the expensive carbon tax which has already raised gas prices 45 cents a gallon.
I-2124 to allow Washington residents to “opt-out” of the state’s Long-Term Care payroll tax and plan.
I-2109 to repeal the state’s Capital Gains Income tax.
I-2111 to prohibit the state and any local government from imposing an income tax.
I-2081 to establish parents as the primary stakeholders in a child’s upbringing (parents bill of rights).
In his interview, Heywood discussed the strategy behind collecting signatures for multiple initiatives at once, the motivation behind a few of the initiatives, and what Shift readers can do to help the effort before the December deadline.
What is the advantage of collecting signatures for six initiatives over collecting signatures for just one?
We have found that since all six of the initiatives are common sense measures which cut across political lines nearly every person our signature gatherers encounter, finds at least one of the initiatives is one they can strongly support. After they sign the petition on an issue that they feel strongly about, they are often willing to examine and sign one or more of the other petitions.
For example, there are many people who are very concerned with parental rights in Washington State, and they are very willing to sign a petition which ensures schools notify parents of important issues impacting their child. Once the person is comfortable with reasonable position of I-2081 they then will view the other initiatives more positively and sign the petition to reduce the carbon tax or the one to eliminate an income tax.
Tell us more about Initiative 2081, which deals with parental rights. The bill’s language states that it would “allow parents and guardians of public-school students to review instructional materials and inspect student records, including health and disciplinary records, upon request.” It seems disturbing that conditions have reached the point where this initiative is necessary. What would I-2081 do?
This initiative comes from the belief that we must do something to stop the erosion of the idea that parents are responsible for their kids. As the first line of the I-2081 states, this initiative’s aim is for the state “to recognize that parents are the primary stakeholder in their child’s upbringing.
Over the past 20 years there has been the doctrine of mature minor and this has been used by lawmakers to slowly peck away at parental rights. Yet most people agree it is a basic right for parents to just be notified about what is going on with your child and what they are teaching them in public schools. There has even been an erosion of the parents’ rights to know what has been going on with their child medically. There are reports that parents are being forced to pay medical bills for their teenager, yet no one is permitted to tell the parents what the bill is for. This is not right. This initiative is simple common sense that people of all political beliefs can support.
Initiative 2124 would allow workers in Washington to “opt-out” of the state’s very controversial Long Term Care tax and plan. Tell us why people should support this initiative.
When the Democrats, with no Republican supporters, passed this bill in 2019, many people were concerned with what they found in the legislation. These concerns grew during the very brief period in 2021 when people were allowed to opt-out of the WA Cares program by purchasing a private Long-Term Care insurance plan. Most workers were confused, and others were very frustrated attempting to find a private plan that was available in Washington State.
As the commencement date of January 1, 2022 approached, even the Democrats were nervous that the program was not solvent. So the legislature and Governor Inslee pushed back the start date to July 1, 2023 to allow bureaucrats to fix the program. The problem is, they failed to fix many of the serious problems with the bill. Most notably, it is still not financially solvent, and workers will soon have to pay much higher payroll tax just to ensure the program doesn’t go bankrupt.
One thing many people don’t realize is how anti-woman WA Cares is. To receive benefits, one needs to pay into the plan for 10 years. So, a young woman starts her career in her young 20s. She gets married and starts to have kids before she is 30. She decides to leave the work force to raise the children. Problem is, after not being employed in Washington State for just five years, she loses the previous time she paid into the plan. If after a few years she becomes employed again, her previous payments are ignored, and she must start all over. Like many problems with the plan, this is simply not fair.
If Initiative 2124 is passed, then everyone will be given the opportunity to opt out of this disastrous plan.
We have all seen the price of gas skyrocket since the implementation of Governor Inslee’s Cap & Trade program, which is also known as the carbon tax. As predicted by its opponents, gas prices have risen 44 cents a gallon, and our state quickly had the highest gas prices in the country. What would Initiative 2117 do?
It would eliminate the carbon tax which proponents knowingly lied about when they passed it.
This is a sneaky tax. Those who passed the bill purposefully made it difficult to assess its impact. Luckily some very smart people at local think tanks worked through the economics of tax and predicted in 2021 that it would raise the price of gallon immediately by 45 cents a gallon and it would eventually increase by as much as a dollar a gallon. Governor Inslee and the Democrats scoffed at the think tanks’ research and claimed it would “just be pennies.” Well, as we have seen the think tanks were right and Governor Inslee misled the public.
If Governor Inslee would have been truthful and said, “I don’t like gasoline cars, and I don’t like the selling of gasoline. By dramatically increasing the cost of gas we will make it too expensive for many (especially lower-income workers) to drive gas cars,” we could have had an honest debate. Instead, the governor told us a big big lie.
Nearly 50 cents a gallon is a huge financial hit for many households. Not only does it raise the price of gas, but it also increases the transportation cost for groceries and other necessary items. Citizens deserve to have an honest debate on this, not one based on falsehoods.
Initiative 2113 is focused on police pursuit. Didn’t the 2023 legislature remove the irresponsible restrictions they implemented in 2021? Why is this initiative needed?
During the 2023 legislative session lawmakers removed a couple of the restrictions, but most remain in place and criminals are still able to flee police, even if the officer sees them committing a crime.
We have handcuffed our police officers so much they can’t do their job. We also don’t have enough police officers, partially due to the restrictions politicians have placed on law enforcement. Washington is dead last for the number of police officers we have per capita. Those who remain are still not able to pursue or arrest suspected criminals. This has led to very bad outcomes. Thousands of innocent citizens have been hurt and have become preventable crime victims.
I-2113 would return the ability for police to pursue criminals if they have the “reasonable suspicion” that a crime had been committed and that public safety is at risk.
We are pleased that the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs has endorsed this initiative.
How can Shift readers help to in the effort to collect enough signatures?
324,516 valid signatures are not easy to obtain. We can use all the assistance people are willing to give.
The first thing they should do is go to our website, www.LetsGoWashington.com and read more about each initiative and then go to the page where they can order petitions to be mailed to them. When the petitions arrive, they can simply sign them and send them back to us. Preferably we would like people to obtain the signatures of other registered voters (i.e., family members, neighbors, work associates, etc.) as well before sending the petitions back.
We have dozens of locations across the state where people can go to sign one or more of the petitions. Your readers can find these spots by going to the “Signing Locations” tab on our website.
We are still looking for volunteers who can go to shopping centers and community events to collect signatures. We also have a few positions available for those who are looking for steady work and are willing to go door to door. Please go to our Contact page if these are of interest to you.
Finally, running this type of organization is a costly endeavor. We figure it will cost about $8 million. We appreciate any financial assistance people can provide. Please go to our “Donation” page if you would like to financially support our efforts.
If you want to know more about Let’s Go Washington and the six initiatives, please visit its website.
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