Bad Bills to Watch:

SB 5974 (Lovick): A sheriff certification requirement that disenfranchises voters, creates constitutional issues that will result in the subversion of local control, and is the first step towards removing appointments of sheriffs to fill vacancies.

SB 5852 (Saldaña): Referred to by the sponsor as the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, this bill aims to put employers in an impossible position under state law, forcing them to refuse to comply with ICE’s inquiries about their employees. (Companion bill: HB 2105)

SB 5973 (Valdez): “Initiative Killer 2.0”: Prohibits initiative organizers from paying signature gatherers per signature, making the work less appealing and disincentivizing them from gathering as many as possible. Also requires organizers to prefile 1,000 signatures in support of the initiative before they can begin collecting the 400,000 required to certify it. (Companion bill: HB 2259)

SB 6045 (Saldaña): Opens all of agriculture and agriculture-related business to collective bargaining. This would be another hit in Democrats’ war on farmers and rural Washington, whose business is dying off under the weight of regulation. It could be the death knell of agriculture in Washington. (Companion bill: HB 2409) 

Income tax. Deceptively labeled by the governor as the “Millionaire Tax," this would be an unconstitutional graduated income tax -- a concept Washington voters have rejected 10 times. No bill number yet.

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 “Affordability isn’t just about money; it isn’t just about the cost of daily expenses. It’s the cost to your quality of life; the cost of feeling unsafe in your own neighborhood. We cannot afford policies that prioritize criminals over victims. We cannot afford to underestimate the drug crisis that is killing our citizens, our children, and driving the homelessness crisis. We cannot afford to accept poor educational outcomes for our students, while we’re near the top of the nation in teacher pay and state spending per student. Washingtonians can’t afford these policy failures; they deserve better.” –

Sen. Keith Wagoner, Republican Whip in the Response to the State of the State.