45 Days until the Election - Ballots arrive October 15

On the November 2024 ballot, Washington voters will have four initiatives to accept or reject. we need to talk with family and friends about voting.

Initiative 2109 (I-2109) would repeal the Capital Gains tax (RCW 82.87), a tax that is applied only to an individual’s profits that exceed $250,000 per year from stocks, bonds, and other investments. This tax affects the very richest 0.2% of Washingtonians and helps make our tax system a little bit fairer. Passage of I-2109 would remove $5 billion of funding from our public schools, childcare and early learning over the next five years.

Initiative 2117 (I-2117) would repeal the Climate Commitment Act, which collects fees on pollution from the largest polluters (big oil companies and a few industrial sites) and applies this money to protect our air and water, protect farmland and forests, invest in energy efficiency, help low-income households with energy bills, and make sensible transportation investments. Future generations need us to do our part to address the climate crisis.

Initiative 2124 (I-2124) would ruin the WA Cares program, which provides funding for in-home care and home medical equipment and to pay a family caregiver to allow seniors and disabled or severely ill adults to live with dignity and stability. WA Cares also helps people with pre-existing conditions who cannot get commercial insurance.

Initiative 2066 (I-2066) is a broad attack on clean energy, energy efficiency, and lower energy bills. State law requires that electrification of buildings proceed in a way that does not leave current gas customers with escalating bills. This initiative repeals this law and eliminates state energy efficiency codes that have lowered energy use in buildings over 30% in the last two decades. I-2066 also prevents local community decision-making to develop climate resilient buildings.

These initiatives are NOT volunteer-driven measures. Brian Heywood, a millionaire hedge fund manager, invested

$5 million to hire paid signature gatherers. In addition, special interest groups paid for I-2066 to perpetuate the use of fossil gas.

From 350 Seattle:

The City of Seattle has been awarded a 5.5 million dollar federal grant to ensure ALL Seattle Public Libraries can serve as cooling centers during extreme heat and smoke events, and move from gas to clean energy!

These crucial upgrades are happening because we organized!

We launched our Healthy Through Heat and Smoke Campaign in 2022 to fight for climate resilience hubs that will keep us all healthy through heat and smoke and reduce climate pollution. We focused on public buildings, like libraries and community centers that are already used as shelter during extreme weather but often lack cooling and clean air capacity and still run on fracked gas.

Hundreds of Seattle students, renters, educators, healthcare workers and people concerned about their healthy climate future organized and succeeded in winning over $100 million for clean air, clean energy, and cooling upgrades.

The next year, our Electrify Seattle campaign took on Seattle’s fastest growing source of climate pollution - the fossil fuels used to heat and operate big buildings (large apartments, downtown offices, government buildings, grocery stores and more). We won a first-for-our-region Building Emissions Performance Standards policy, which sets deadlines for when buildings over 20,000 square feet must end their climate pollution. This single policy will tackle 10% of Seattle’s total climate pollution, create thousands of green union jobs and bring life-saving cooling to thousands of Seattle residents and workers.

All of these victories have been possible because of everyday people like you, coming together to demand a healthy climate future and an end to the era of fossil fuels, but unfortunately they are currently in danger.

What you do in the next six weeks is critical to ensuring that our growing momentum is not rolled back by the slate of initiatives that would repeal Washington’s most significant climate legislation and gut state funding for progress.

These dangerous initiatives are beatable but only if we organize and talk to our community. Can you join us at an upcoming event near you? Sign up here

Find Local Actions! Lots of opportunities to get involved are happening across the state, so make sure you check out this list of events (link) and sign up for one near you! Events can include tabling at a farmers market or community event, canvassing door to door, postcard parties, and more!

Join the Mega Phone Bank! The No on 2117 campaign is gearing up for a REALLY BIG Phonebank on Saturday, September 28th, 6-7:30pm and needs your help. Sign up here to join us! If you can't help on September 28th (and even if you can) please consider also helping at our standing phone banks (Link), Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays 6-8 pm.

Youth Kick-off Connected to any youth in your life that would like to get involved in the No on 2117 campaign? Send them this link to join the Youth Kick-off on September 24th!

Defeat All Four Workshop Yesterday, we hosted the first of our Defeat All Four Workshops. If you missed it, you can check out the recording here.

From our friends at the Snoqualmie Tribe:

Hello Volunteers!
The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and Snoqualmie Tribe are working with Conservation Northwest to better support forest planning around the impacts of on and off-leash dogs on wildlife and ecosystems.

We are inviting YOU to help contribute your time and energy to better understand the presence of dogs on trails in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Valley simply by sitting outside and counting dogs. What: We're asking volunteers to hike and find a spot ¼ to ½ mile from a trailhead and count the number of dogs that pass by for 60 minutes. After your count, you may continue to hike and enjoy your time in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Valley! Afterward you will submit your survey results to the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. Who: YOU! Maybe with a friend or two?
When: Various dates and times from September 17th through September 29th. Why: The disturbance and displacement of local wildlife caused from outdoor recreation is a growing topic of concern among public land managers. This community science project seeks to fill the gap in knowledge around the presence of dogs on local trails—which can increase impacts to wildlife, especially when off-leash. How: Sign-up for a survey slot in this spreadsheet. Please only sign up for surveys that you can realistically do. Please fill out your survey with your observations within 24 hours of your hike. Your contributions to this project will contribute to more well-rounded forest planning in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie region! Thank you, happy hiking,

Michael Bailey ( he / they ) ENR Outreach Manager Environmental & Natural Resources Dept. Snoqualmie Indian Tribe [email protected] (425) 417-7646

From Third Act Washington:

***ACTION ALERT ***

Are Puget Sound Energy’s Rate Increases Justified?

Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has submitted a request to the Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) for large rate increases over the next two years:

Electricity rates would increase 6.7% in 2025 and 9.3% in 2026
Fossil ("natural") gas rates would increase by 18.9% in 2025 and 2.0% in 2026.

Please submit your comments about these rate increases to the UTC by Friday September 27th.

The UTC rarely receives public comments, so don’t underestimate the impact you can make on their decision-making! In addition to comments on the magnitude of the increases, we should encourage PSE to focus on transitioning off fossil fuels and providing relief for low-income customers.

Here’s how:

Submit your comments to the UTC online at https://www.utc.wa.gov/consumers/submit-comment or via email at [email protected]
In your comments, say they relate to Dockets UE-240004 (electric service) and UG-240005 (natural gas service).

Sample comment:

"We must quickly reduce fossil fuel use to slow global heating. Instead of sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into a fossil fuel delivery system (fossil gas) that will serve fewer and fewer customers while continuing to leak methane and create safety hazards such as the devastating Greenwood explosion in 2016, we ask PSE to move as quickly as possible towards electrification and clean energy sources.

Wherever possible, aging and unsafe pipelines should be replaced with these cleaner alternatives rather than new pipes. If the UTC approves PSE’s full rate increase, it will enable and reward additional investment that will ultimately become a waste of dollars funding the climate crisis rather than shrinking it."

Questions?

Third Act Washington's Power Up group focuses on electric and gas utility regulation. Questions? Contact Tom Kraemer at [email protected].