WA Supreme Court releases full decisions on challenges to ballot initiatives– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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(The Center Square) – The Washington Supreme Court last week released its full decisions regarding a pair of cases involving an attempt earlier this year to keep four initiatives off the ballot. The state’s highest court ultimately rejected removing the initiatives from the ballot.
This November, voters will decide on three Let’s Go Washington-sponsored initiatives that would repeal the capital gains tax, prohibit carbon tax credit trading and repeal provisions of the 2021 Climate Commitment Act, and allow people to opt out of the state’s WA Cares long-term care program. A fourth initiative, sponsored by the Business Industry Association of Washington, would prohibit state and local governments from restricting access to natural gas.
Earlier this year, the anti-initiatives organization Defend Washington filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, claiming signatures to qualify the initiatives for the ballot were gathered illegally. This would mean the measures would need to re-qualify for the ballot.
In another case, the Washington Conservation Action Defense Fund sued Hobbs in an attempt to invalidate the secretary of state’s certification of the initiative to prevent the government from restricting natural gas.