Tonight, Washington’s Legislature took a stand for fairness, opportunity, and inclusion by adopting Initiative 1000, which would empower agencies and institutions of higher learning to adopt policies that remedy discrimination faced by the state’s underrepresented and disadvantaged communities.
Sponsored by Nathaniel Jackson, I‑1000 does three things, as summarized by the staff of the Washington State House of Representatives:
- Amends the provision of law [Tim Eyman and John Carlson’s I‑200] that prohibits the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to an individual or group based on certain characteristics in public employment, public education, and public contracting.
- Creates the Governor’s Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion responsible for directing, monitoring, and enforcing state agency compliance with the initiative and reporting on state agency progress in achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Requires a memorandum and draft legislation regarding necessary statutory changes to bring nomenclature and processes in line with the initiative.
I‑1000 does not repeal I‑200; but instead modifies it. Quotas remain prohibited under I‑1000, but other approaches to remedying discrimination would become available to Washington’s colleges, universities, and state agencies.
With just hours to go before the end of the regular session, the House and Senate brought I‑1000 to the floor for a vote and adopted it after a lively debate. Democrats provided all of the votes to adopt it in both houses; not a single Republican voted aye. The roll call in the House was as follows:
Roll Call
HI 1000
Affirmative action
Final Passage
4/28/2019Yeas: 56; Nays: 42
Voting Yea: Representatives Appleton, Bergquist, Callan, Chapman, Cody, Davis, Doglio, Dolan, Entenman, Fey, Fitzgibbon, Frame, Goodman, Gregerson, Hansen, Hudgins, Jinkins, Kilduff, Kirby, Kloba, Leavitt, Lekanoff, Lovick, Macri, Mead, Morgan, Morris, Ormsby, Ortiz-Self, Orwall, Paul, Pellicciotti, Peterson, Pettigrew, Pollet, Ramos, Reeves, Riccelli, Robinson, Ryu, Santos, Sells, Senn, Shewmake, Slatter, Springer, Stanford, Stonier, Sullivan, Tarleton, Thai, Tharinger, Valdez, Walen, Wylie, Chopp
Voting Nay: Representatives Barkis, Blake, Boehnke, Caldier, Chambers, Chandler, Corry, DeBolt, Dent, Dufault, Dye, Eslick, Gildon, Goehner, Graham, Griffey, Harris, Hoff, Irwin, Jenkin, Klippert, Kraft, Kretz, MacEwen, Maycumber, McCaslin, Mosbrucker, Orcutt, Rude, Schmick, Shea, Smith, Steele, Stokesbary, Sutherland, Van Werven, Vick, Volz, Walsh, Wilcox, Ybarra, Young
And this was the roll call in the Senate:
Roll Call
SI 1000
Affirmative action
3rd Reading & Final Passage
4/28/2019Yeas: 26; Nays: 22; Excused: 1
Voting Yea: Senators Billig, Carlyle, Cleveland, Conway, Darneille, Das, Dhingra, Frockt, Hasegawa, Hobbs, Hunt, Keiser, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, McCoy, Nguyen, Pedersen, Randall, Rolfes, Saldaña, Salomon, Takko, Van De Wege, Wellman, Wilson (Claire)
Voting Nay: Senators Bailey, Becker, Braun, Brown, Ericksen, Fortunato, Hawkins, Holy, Honeyford, King, Mullet, O‘Ban, Padden, Rivers, Schoesler, Sheldon, Short, Wagoner, Walsh, Warnick, Wilson (Lynda), Zeiger
Excused: Senator Palumbo
In the House, Democratic Representative Brian Blake voted no.
In the Senate, Democratic Senator Mark Mullet vote no.
Democratic Senator Guy Palumbo skipped the vote.
NPI thanks and congratulates the Legislature’s eighty-two other Democratic legislators for their historic votes to pass I‑1000. For a while, it didn’t look like I‑1000 was going anywhere. To see it pass is a huge relief.
Because I‑1000 is an initiative to the Legislature, not a bill, it does not go to Governor Jay Inslee for signature. The initiative will become law unless it is subjected to a successful referendum. Expect John Carlson, Tim Eyman, and others to announce such an effort immediately.
Our team at NPI stands ready to help assemble a broad and diverse coalition to ensure that I‑1000 remains the law of the land in Washington State.
The entity that qualified I‑1000 as an initiative to the Legislature (organized by former lawmaker Jesse Wineberry) is unfortunately in no shape to defend the measure. It was unprofessionally run and owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to Tim Eyman’s associates, who are co-defendants in Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s principal campaign finance enforcement lawsuit against Eyman.
NPI did not participate in the effort to qualify I‑1000 to the Legislature due to concerns over funding and transparency. A progressive campaign should never do business with a corrupt right wing company like “Citizen Solutions”.
Nevertheless, the initiative qualified.
While we could not in good conscience support the I‑1000 campaign, we have emphatically supported I‑1000 as policy, and we have been urging the Legislature to adopt the measure since January when the House and Senate convened.
There is now an opportunity to form a new campaign to defend the newly enacted Washington State Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Act (which is I‑1000’s official title) — and we look forward to enthusiastically participating in that effort.
I‑1000 is nothing more segregation between minorities. Now we are moving forward to a more advancement of people without merit, education, and hard work. This initiative will not fix black communities at all. In order for a black community to strive like other minorities is investing revenues in better education, provide incentives for business to invest in the community and create jobs, and stop oppressing blacks by making them victims of racism.