The second of two six submitted initiatives to the 2024 Washington State Legislature sponsored by Republican State Party Chair Jim Walsh and funded by right wing multimillionaire Brian Heywood was certified today, which means it is destined for the November 2024 ballot for approval or rejection by voters.
Initiative 2117 would repeal the landmark Climate Commitment Act, passed and signed into law in the 2021 session. The CCA is one of the most important environmental protection laws ever adopted by Washington’s elected representatives. Also known as cap and invest, it is raising billions of dollars to secure a just and responsible transition to the clean energy future we need.
According to the Secretary of State’s Elections Division, 27,175 pages of signatures were received for I‑2117, containing 466,072 lines.
324,516 valid signatures are currently required to qualify a statewide initiative.
Initiative 2117 had a sufficient cushion of extra signatures to qualify for a random sample check as allowed by state law, which consisted of 13,983 signatures.
Of those, 10,863 were accepted and 3,120 were reviewed. 3,120 signatures were determined to be invalid, and fifteen were determined to be duplicate.
Secretary Hobbs today transmitted a certification message to the Legislature affixed with the state seal, advising of I‑2117’s qualification.
Legislative staff have given I‑2117 its own bill-style page on leg.wa.gov.
The ballot title for I‑2117 is as follows:
Initiative Measure No. 2117 concerns carbon tax credit trading.
This measure would prohibit state agencies from imposing any type of carbon tax credit trading, and repeal legislation establishing a cap and invest program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]
The summary is as follows:
This measure would prohibit state agencies from imposing any type of carbon tax credit trading, including “cap and trade” or “cap and tax” programs, regardless of whether the resulting increased costs are imposed on fuel recipients or fuel suppliers. It would repeal sections of the 2021 Washington Climate Commitment Act as amended, including repealing the creation and modification of a “cap and invest” program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by specific entities.
Legislators have three choices as to how to respond to I‑2117:
- Do nothing, in which case it goes to voters
- Adopt the measure into law
- Send it to the November 2024 ballot with an alternative
NPI opposes Initiative 2117 and is working for the measure’s defeat. Because the chances of the Democratic-controlled Legislature approving this measure are pretty much nonexistent, it will be getting forwarded automatically to the ballot, as mentioned above. NPI’s Stop Greed project is urging a no vote on I‑2117; if you’d like to support this effort, you can donate to Stop Greed here using ActBlue.
“We have the strongest policy in the country to reduce pollution and protect our air and water quality. A coalition of families, businesses, Tribal Nations, and environmental organizations came together to pass this law, and we are confident that Washington voters will oppose this right-wing attack. Vote No on I‑2117,” said Lennon Bronsema, Washington Conservation Action’s VP of Campaigns.
We agree and we invite you to join us in rejecting I‑2117 later this year.
