Once again, in this election our state’s initiative process is being used to protect the wealth of millionaires and sow dissent among ordinary Washingtonians. All three statewide initiatives are being bankrolled by MAGA mega-donor Brian Heywood, whose organization “Let’s Go Washington” was also behind the 2024 efforts to repeal the capital gains tax, end the Long-Term Care Trust fund, and substantially repeal the state’s efforts to address climate change. We defeated those initiatives and defended a stronger, cleaner Washington – it’s time to do that again.
Initiative 001 would further endanger child abuse victims and weaken parents’ rights to know that their child has been the victim of a crime at school. It is opposed by hundreds of organizations, including AFT Washington, WEA, WSNA, Washington State PTA, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and Planned Parenthood. The initiative is so poorly written that it would remove common-sense school record protections for victims of child abuse, worsen the teen mental health crisis, and force schools to out LGBTQIA+ students regardless of their safety.
Parents have the right to know what’s going on with their kids at school. But while most parents are loving and supportive, the sad reality is not all kids are safe at home. Child abuse is more widespread than most realize: there were 117,629 reports of child abuse or neglect in Washington in 2024 alone. I-001 will make things worse for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence by taking away their access to a safe place where they can talk to a trusted adult. We urge you to vote NO on IL26-001 and help keep our children safe.
Initiative 638 is the most extreme MAGA initiative of its kind of the US. It requires invasive genital exams on girls to play elementary, middle, and high school sports. While preK-12 sports have always required a physical examination for all students, a genital examination has never been required because it’s not relevant to the health and fitness of the student to play sports. Boys are specifically exempted from these humiliating requirements, which just highlights that it’s not about a real problem.
This initiative is opposed by AFT Washington, WSNA, Planned Parenthood, the League of Women Voters, and many, many more. This initiative would make Washington the most extreme state in the nation when it comes to school sports because it requires all girls to be sex inspected before they can participate in after-school sports. We urge you to vote NO on IL26-638 and reject MAGA fearmongering and culture wars.
Initiative 645 would overturn the Millionaire’s Tax that the Washington State Legislature passed last session, cutting $13 billion from preK-12 education, healthcare, human services, and higher education to give the richest 1% a tax break and raise costs for working Washingtonians. In Washington state, the people with the lowest incomes pay 3.5 times more in state and local taxes than the richest 1%. This is why we are the second-worst state in the country for tax fairness, and I-645 would make things worse by repealing working family tax rebates and eliminating B&O tax breaks for small businesses, as well as by increasing direct costs and government cuts.
AFT Washington opposes this initiative, along with many other organizations, including a broad coalition of labor unions, early learning providers, teachers and education leaders, nurses and healthcare providers, and working families. MAGA mega-donor Brian Heywood is one of the very few ultra-wealthy Washingtonians who would benefit from passing this initiative, but our kids and families would be harmed by the cuts this initiative would cause. We urge you to vote NO on IP26-645.
It's extremely clear that these three initiatives have been brought forward in an effort to benefit the very few in Washington, at the expense of the rest of us. We cannot build a strong, responsive, healthy state that provides opportunity and safe communities for all without money to do so, nor in a culture of distrust and danger, and these initiatives all seek to sow fear and cut our opportunities.