The Washington state Legislature passed a trio of initiatives Monday to loosen vehicle pursuit restrictions, establish a parental “bill of rights” and prevent the state from implementing an income tax in the future.
With the session set to end later this week, the move comes after weeks of pleas for hearings, rallies at the Capitol and calls for lawmakers to take action on the six initiatives that have hovered over legislators for months.
“The passage of three of the six initiatives today is terrific — I’m very pleased about it,” Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, said in a statement.
The Washington State Senate acted first and passed the initiatives Monday morning, with the House of Representatives following suit. The move comes following joint legislative hearings last week and days before the end of the legislative session.
“When common sense Republican policies lead the way, things get better for everyone,” Washington GOP Chairman Jim Walsh said in a statement Monday. “The WAGOP thanks the Democrat legislators and elected officials who’ve joined us in supporting these critical initiatives. Working together, we will continue to fix what’s broken in Washington. This is just the start, of course. There’s much more work to do. Other problems to fix. But, for the moment, let’s celebrate these significant wins.”
The three initiatives — I-2113, I-2111 and I-2081 — will now be delivered to the Secretary of State and will take effect 90 days after the session ends. Unlike a typical piece of legislation, initiatives are exempt from potential veto by the governor.
“Restoring reasonable police pursuits of criminals and criminal suspects will lower crime rates. Establishing parental notification rights will support healthier and happier kids — and better school performance. And codifying Washington’s long-standing tradition of opposing any state tax on personal income will help working families and local economies,” Walsh said in the statement.
Police pursuits
Initiative 2113 will lower the threshold needed to pursue a suspect from reasonable suspicion that a person has committed a violent offense to a “reasonable suspicion that a person has violated a law.”
The initiative will also lower the standard when assessing a suspect’s risk to the safety of a community from a “serious risk of harm to others” to a “threat to the safety of others.”
“What this public policy does is it allows our law enforcement officers to follow their training, and use their best judgment, to help enforce the law to the benefit of all Washingtonians,” Walsh, R-Aberdeen, said on the House floor. “It is narrowly constructed to leave in place current guidelines and rules and law on training, on supervision, so that police pursuits are done in a professional and rational way. But it restores our trust, the people’s trust, in the judgment of trained law enforcement professionals.”
In his remarks, Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, recalled an incident in June 2022 when a Centralia police officer observed a vehicle speed past him at approximately 65 mph in a 25 mph zone. According to previous reporting by The Chronicle, the officer did not know about the vehicle’s involvement with a shooting in the 600 block of West Maple Street and did not pursue it.
“This is not from a constituent in my community, this is my story,” Abbarno said, reading a passage from The Chronicle’s article on the incident. “While my kids were asleep, while we were asleep, a bullet hit my neighbor’s porch. This is a serious policy, this is something that is long overdue.”
Abbarno’s seatmate from the 20th District, Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, said while police pursuits can be dangerous, they’re done with knowledge, caution and an understanding of potential risks.
The measure passed out of the House of Representatives by a vote of 77-20. The initiative passed the Senate by a vote of 36-13.
“The overwhelming majority of people who signed up in favor of I-2113 is a very clear sign that Washingtonians want to see police pursuits restored. They want safer communities instead of rising crime and lawlessness,” said Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, in a statement Monday.
A parental bill of rights
According to legislative staff, Initiative 2081 will not amend several recent bills passed in Olympia, which include expanded access to mental health care, health care-related services, youth care homes, and youth shelters while restricting guardian access to some health care-related documents.
“What this initiative does is it gives parents and grandparents and custodial guardians in Washington, a clear understanding that they are engaged in the upbringing of their minor children,” Walsh said.
Walsh said recent changes in the legislature have “clouded” parent involvement, with the initiative seeking to “clarify” a parent’s role in their child’s education.
“I think this initiative strengthens the bonds that a child, a student, has with their family,” Abbarno said. “I think that’s really important to me as a father of two school-age kids, that we continue to strengthen those bonds and we continue to create pathways to strengthen communication.”
The initiative passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 82-15. The initiative was unanimously adopted by the Senate by a vote of 49-0.
“This initiative declares 15 rights that parents and grandparents of public school children have, including the right to receive or be notified of academic, medical, safety and law enforcement matters, the right to access certain materials and records, the right to opt their children out of various activities,” Sen. Lisa Wellman, D-Mercer Island, said on the floor. “It shows that parents are involved, and are engaged, and there is a significant impact on academic wellness and success with their engagement.”
A ban on state income taxes
While Washingtonians have long enjoyed the lack of a state income tax, that tradition is now further codified in state law.
Initiative 2111 will not impact local or state revenues and does not repeal or impact existing programs. Last week, a lawyer from Pacifica Law Group testified that the proposal “is unnecessary and it will have no demonstrable impact on the tax law today, or taxpayers today.”
In his remarks on the House floor, Walsh said the initiative “confirms and codifies one of the best things about living in Washington.”
“The people of Washington are proud that in the history of this state, even in its moments when it’s progressive on some issues, it is fiscally very conservative,” Walsh said. “And the distinctive part of that fiscal conservatism is that we don’t have a personal income tax in this state.”
In a statement, Orcutt said, “it is a relief to know that state and local governments now have no authority to add this tax burden upon them.”
“The passage of Initiative 2111 is important for individuals, families, and employers across our state — and House Republicans were united in support of it,” Orcutt said.
The initiative passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 76-21. The initiative passed the Senate 38-11.
“It has been drafted narrowly so that it only applies to personal income and not any other sort of tax. It does not change any current law,” Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, said on the Senate floor. “According to the fiscal note for the initiative, it has no fiscal impact.”
The three measures not getting public hearings are Initiative 2109 to repeal the capital gains tax, Initiative 2117 to repeal the Climate Commitment Act, and Initiative 2124 to allow more people to opt out of the state’s long-term care program.
Those will be decided by voters during the general election in November.
