There’s a different anti-initiative bill — tell legislators: “Knock it off!”

by | Jan 25, 2018

Shutting down the initiative process is now an obsession by the Democrats in Olympia. I already told you about Senate Bill 5386, the initiative-death-by-delay bill.

Now there’s a different anti-initiative bill — this one, House Bill 2383, says that before the government will “allow” the collection of voter signatures on petitions, a person must first:

1) register with the government
2) be licensed by the government
3) go through an undefined “training program” by the government
4) be subjected to criminal background checks
5) submit a photo headshot of themselves to the government
6) provide a copy of their drivers license to the government
7) provide their name, personal home address, phone number, and email address to the government
8) and more

Only after jumping through all these burdensome hoops may the person be allowed to “petition their government.” It’s absurd. Citizens cannot be required to first obtain government permission before exercising First Amendment rights.

There was a hearing on House Bill 2383 and I ripped into it with enthusiasm.

Click on the arrow below to watch my 2 minute testimony.

If that doesn’t work, click on this link to watch it (it’s short):
https://tinyurl.com/ycdlqz7m

Legislators only know what they hear. I told them HB 2383 is awful. But when all of you tell them — LOUDLY — that it’s terrible, then it has an even greater impact.

Please email this, or something like this, to ALL legislators (tell ’em what ya think):

“House Bill 2383, the register-with-the-government-before-you-can-collect-signatures bill, sponsored by Seattle Democrat Zack Hudgins, is insulting and immoral. Petitioning is a guaranteed First Amendment right and this awful Democrat bill clearly violates the people’s right to participate. I’m infuriated that the Democrat party is making it their top legislative priority to destroy the people’s initiative power. HB 2383 will clearly discourage people from collecting signatures meaning voters will have fewer opportunities to sign initiative petitions they agree with (both liberal and conservative). The ACLU and every newspaper in the state viscerally opposed this proposed scheme in 2015 — I ask all legislators to oppose it this year. The initiative process is ours, not yours. Leave it alone.”

Subject line: Oppose anti-initiative bills like House Bill 2383

Cut and paste these email addresses into the To line of your email — here’s the 98 House members for the 2018 session:

sherry.appleton@leg.wa.gov; andrew.barkis@leg.wa.gov; steve.bergquist@leg.wa.gov; brian.blake@leg.wa.gov; vincent.buys@leg.wa.gov; michelle.caldier@leg.wa.gov; bruce.chandler@leg.wa.gov; mike.chapman@leg.wa.gov; frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov; judy.clibborn@leg.wa.gov; eileen.cody@leg.wa.gov; cary.condotta@leg.wa.gov; richard.debolt@leg.wa.gov; tom.dent@leg.wa.gov; beth.doglio@leg.wa.gov; laurie.dolan@leg.wa.gov; mary.dye@leg.wa.gov; carolyn.eslick@leg.wa.gov; jake.fey@leg.wa.gov; joe.fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov; noel.frame@leg.wa.gov; roger.goodman@leg.wa.gov; paul.graves@leg.wa.gov; mia.gregerson@leg.wa.gov; dan.griffey@leg.wa.gov; larry.haler@leg.wa.gov; drew.hansen@leg.wa.gov; mark.hargrove@leg.wa.gov; mark.harmsworth@leg.wa.gov; paul.harris@leg.wa.gov; dave.hayes@leg.wa.gov; jeff.holy@leg.wa.gov; zack.hudgins@leg.wa.gov; morgan.irwin@leg.wa.gov; bill.jenkin@leg.wa.gov; laurie.jinkins@leg.wa.gov; norm.johnson@leg.wa.gov; ruth.kagi@leg.wa.gov; christine.kilduff@leg.wa.gov; steve.kirby@leg.wa.gov; brad.klippert@leg.wa.gov; shelley.kloba@leg.wa.gov; vicki.kraft@leg.wa.gov; joel.kretz@leg.wa.gov; dan.kristiansen@leg.wa.gov; john.lovick@leg.wa.gov; kristine.lytton@leg.wa.gov; drew.macewen@leg.wa.gov; nicole.macri@leg.wa.gov; matt.manweller@leg.wa.gov; jacquelin.maycumber@leg.wa.gov; joan.mcbride@leg.wa.gov; gina.mccabe@leg.wa.gov; bob.mccaslin@leg.wa.gov; joyce.mcdonald@leg.wa.gov; jeff.morris@leg.wa.gov; dick.muri@leg.wa.gov; terry.nealey@leg.wa.gov; ed.orcutt@leg.wa.gov; timm.ormsby@leg.wa.gov; lillian.ortiz-self@leg.wa.gov; tina.orwall@leg.wa.gov; mike.pellicciotti@leg.wa.gov; strom.peterson@leg.wa.gov; eric.pettigrew@leg.wa.gov; liz.pike@leg.wa.gov; gerry.pollet@leg.wa.gov; kristine.reeves@leg.wa.gov; marcus.riccelli@leg.wa.gov; june.robinson@leg.wa.gov; jay.rodne@leg.wa.gov; cindy.ryu@leg.wa.gov; sharontomiko.santos@leg.wa.gov; david.sawyer@leg.wa.gov; joe.schmick@leg.wa.gov; mike.sells@leg.wa.gov; tana.senn@leg.wa.gov; matt.shea@leg.wa.gov; vandana.slatter@leg.wa.gov; norma.smith@leg.wa.gov; larry.springer@leg.wa.gov; melanie.stambaugh@leg.wa.gov; derek.stanford@leg.wa.gov; mike.steele@leg.wa.gov; drew.stokesbary@leg.wa.gov; monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov; pat.sullivan@leg.wa.gov; gael.tarleton@leg.wa.gov; david.taylor@leg.wa.gov; steve.tharinger@leg.wa.gov; javier.valdez@leg.wa.gov; luanne.vanwerven@leg.wa.gov; brandon.vick@leg.wa.gov; mike.volz@leg.wa.gov; jim.walsh@leg.wa.gov; jt.wilcox@leg.wa.gov; sharon.wylie@leg.wa.gov; jesse.young@leg.wa.gov; tim_eyman@comcast.net

Send a separate email for the Senate — here’s the 49 senators for the 2018 session:

jan.angel@leg.wa.gov; barbara.bailey@leg.wa.gov; michael.baumgartner@leg.wa.gov; randi.becker@leg.wa.gov; andy.billig@leg.wa.gov; john.braun@leg.wa.gov; sharon.brown@leg.wa.gov; reuven.carlyle@leg.wa.gov; maralyn.chase@leg.wa.gov; annette.cleveland@leg.wa.gov; steve.conway@leg.wa.gov; j.darneille@leg.wa.gov; jeannie.darneille@leg.wa.gov; manka.dhingra@leg.wa.gov; doug.ericksen@leg.wa.gov; joe.fain@leg.wa.gov; phil.fortunato@leg.wa.gov; david.frockt@leg.wa.gov; bob.hasegawa@leg.wa.gov; brad.hawkins@leg.wa.gov; steve.hobbs@leg.wa.gov; jim.honeyford@leg.wa.gov; sam.hunt@leg.wa.gov; karen.keiser@leg.wa.gov; curtis.king@leg.wa.gov; patty.kuderer@leg.wa.gov; marko.liias@leg.wa.gov; john.mccoy@leg.wa.gov; mark.miloscia@leg.wa.gov; mark.mullet@leg.wa.gov; sharon.nelson@leg.wa.gov; steve.oban@leg.wa.gov; mike.padden@leg.wa.gov; guy.palumbo@leg.wa.gov; jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov; kevin.ranker@leg.wa.gov; ann.rivers@leg.wa.gov; christine.rolfes@leg.wa.gov; rebecca.saldana@leg.wa.gov; mark.schoesler@leg.wa.gov; timothy.sheldon@leg.wa.gov; shelly.short@leg.wa.gov; dean.takko@leg.wa.gov; kevin.vandewege@leg.wa.gov; keith.wagoner@leg.wa.gov; maureen.walsh@leg.wa.gov; judy.warnick@leg.wa.gov; lisa.wellman@leg.wa.gov; lynda.wilson@leg.wa.gov; hans.zeiger@leg.wa.gov; cyrus.habib@ltgov.wa.gov; ltgov@ltgov.wa.gov; tim_eyman@comcast.net

Sending these 2 emails will really help — BUT IT’S ONLY EFFECTIVE IF WE ALL DO IT. If you have any problem, just email me the message you want sent, and I’ll forward it to all legislators (and I’ll cc you). OK?

After 20 years of fighting for taxpayers, we’ve learned that the most effective way to fight the Democrats’ tax-hiking schemes is by taking our case directly to the people. That’s why we’re moving full steam ahead with We Don’t Want An Income Tax. It prohibits the state and local governments from imposing any kind of income tax, especially a capital gains income tax.

Jack, Mike, and I are committed to protecting taxpayers. But we can’t do it alone. We need everyone’s help.