Friends,

 

The Shift WA team has been working to shift the political debate in Washington state since 2013. We’ve spent the last decade providing people like you with the facts and perspectives needed to make a difference in your community. So, as always, we hope to keep you up-to-date with an item or two of interest from your own backyard. Read on…

Brian Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington and a beekeeper, detailed six key initiatives the organization aims to bring to the 2024 Washington State Legislature, requiring over 324,516 valid signatures from registered voters by this December 29. Let’s Go Washington hopes to secure more than 400,000 signatures for each one to ensure a lawful count. The initiatives cover diverse areas, including easing police pursuit restrictions, repealing the carbon tax to reduce gas price, allowing residents to opt-out of the Long-Term Care payroll tax, repealing the Capital Gains income tax, prohibiting any income taxes by the state or local governments, and establishing parents as primary stakeholders in a child’s upbringing through a parents' bill of rights. Read more.

 

Over the past decade with Governor Jay Inslee in charge, Washington state's government expenses have skyrocketed, more than doubling in cost. For those not keen on crunching the numbers, it means the state is now taking over two dollars for every dollar it spent in 2013, thanks to Inslee and his Democrat pals in the state legislature. Despite this massive increase in state spending, the Inslee administration now looks to federal funds for additional support to fulfill their goals, raising concerns about our state's fiscal sustainability. Read this story and more.

 

Shift has consistently voiced concerns about the deceit of Governor Inslee and his fellow legislative Democrats regarding their demands for the cap and trade/carbon tax law. We're not alone in this assessment; the Capital Press has echoed our sentiments by pointing out that Inslee appears to be evading the intended consequences of the program he champions. This trend of dishonesty isn't new for Inslee; he has a history of obscuring the true costs of his ambitious green initiatives, as demonstrated during his push for a federal cap and tax program in 2009. Read this story and more.