Washington lawmakers passed an initiative intended to increase parents' rights in their children's education. The initiative was sponsored by the group Let's Go Washington, which ran a vigorous signature gathering campaign last year for six initiatives in total. (iStock)
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The initiative, sponsored by the group Let's Go Washington, overwhelmingly passed both chambers in the final days of the legislative session. The other two passed this week rolled back some restrictions on police chases and codified Washington's status as an income tax-free state. They take effect June 5 and don't require Gov. Jay Inslee's signature.
LGW founder Brian Heywood told Fox News in a statement that, six months ago, such a victory was "unthinkable to radical progressives."
"They were quick to categorize all of the initiatives as ‘right-wing extremist’ policies that didn’t have a chance of passing," he wrote. "Washingtonians who signed the initiatives knew they were common sense measures."
LGW secured more than the 324,000 signatures required to send each of the proposals to the legislature for consideration. Lawmakers had the option to either pass them right away or take no action and let the initiatives go before voters in the next election.
The remaining three initiatives — which legislative leaders said they won't act on — would repeal the state's capital gains tax, allow employees to opt out of a long-term care insurance program and repeal the state's new cap and trade program, which critics say raised Washington's gas prices by about 45 cents per gallon.
Brian Heywood started the political action committee Let's Go Washington to advocate for numerous conservative-leaning initiatives. (Screenshot via We The Governed/YouTube)
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Jinkins and Pedersen wrote that the other three initiatives "would cause devastating and deeply felt cuts." Those will go on the November ballot.
"The only reason radical progressives did not approve all six common sense initiatives is because of government greed," Heywood wrote. "Backroom deals with union bosses and progressive special interests outweigh real tax relief for working class Washingtonians."
LGW ran a robust signature gathering campaign for the six initiatives last year, drawing fierce opposition in the Democrat-controlled state. The mayor of Yakima called 911 to report "far right-wing petitioners at Walmart" she believed were harassing shoppers. Former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna accused several groups of a "coordinated intimidation campaign" against LGW signature gatherers, which included the creation of a hotline for reporting their locations.
Hannah Ray Lambert is an associate producer/writer with Fox News Digital Originals.
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