Just over a month since we launched the campaign, we continue to build momentum.
Our unprecedented coalition is growing. Over 170 organizations have endorsed our campaign. Just this weekend, the Washington State Labor Council, representing 550,000 rank-and-file union members working in our state, announced their support, and the Association of Washington Business voted to stay neutral. Both of these are huge wins. We’re also honored to have the support of the Suquamish Tribe, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and Quinault Indian Nation.
We’ve raised a whopping $12M (including pledges) from around 2500 donations, with 95% of donations coming in at $100 or less. The Puyallup Tribe generously contributed $600,000 toward the fight to defeat I-2117.
Defend WA released a poll last week showing 57 percent of voters oppose I-2117, compared to 37 percent who support it. All three ballot measures funded by the conservative, out-of-state, millionaire hedge-fund manager Brian Heywood (Initiatives 2109, 2117, and 2124) are well below 50 percent support and each has more voters opposed than in favor.
Let’s Go Washington, the committee behind the three conservative ballot initiatives, filed a Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) report earlier this month showing they raised nearly $600,000 last month and spent $100,000 to test TV ads in focus groups. While $600,000 is not enough to close our fundraising gap, it’s clear they are aiming to go on TV and are working to find the money to do so. Just a few generous donations could diminish our fundraising advantage.
We’re hiring five important positions. Please help us recruit strong candidates by sharing with your network:
- Organizing Director
- Outreach Director
- Digital Director
- Deputy Communications Director
- Communications Associate
Rep. Jake Fey and Sen. Marko Liias published an op-ed in the Everett Herald laying out the devastating impact I-2117 would have on our state’s transportation projects. Read it here:
I’ve included additional coverage of the campaign below.
Thank you for your contributions to this campaign.
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The Everett Herald: Comment: Passing I-2117 would blast hole in transportation fixes
By Jake Fey and Marko Liias
May 18, 2024
What would it mean for our state’s economy, our commutes and our communities if we punched an I-90-sized hole in our state’s already stretched transportation funding plan? That’s a question Washingtonians should ask themselves as they consider their vote on Initiative 2117, which will be on our ballots this fall. As transportation policymakers and commuters here in Washington, we feel a responsibility to sound the alarm. If passed, I-2117 would repeal one of our state’s key funding sources for our overall transportation plan and put transit service, ferries and road and bridge projects across Washington at risk of delay or even cancellation.
E&E News: Battle over Washington’s carbon market hinges on gasoline prices
By Anne C. Mulkern
May 9, 2024
The survival of Washington state’s carbon market could come down to how much voters believe it’s raised gasoline prices. On the ballot this November is the question of whether to repeal the state’s climate law. If a majority agrees, it would kill Washington’s cap-and-invest program, one of two economywide carbon pricing systems in the United States. The other is in California. Supporters of the repeal effort say the regulation has hiked gasoline pump prices 50 cents a gallon. Defenders of the carbon market say new data shows it’s now closer to 10 cents a gallon. The true cost is hard to nail down, experts say — though currently, it likely falls closer to the 10 cents figure…Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at the website GasBuddy, said he’d put the cap-and-invest cost at 12 to 15 cents per gallon, based in part on the price spread over Oregon.
Politico: Republicans are trying to snuff out climate embers around the country
By Jordan Wolman
April 24, 2024
But the most high-profile carbon pricing fight is taking place in Washington. Gas prices have soared in Washington to about $1 above the national average and higher than neighboring Oregon, according to AAA, though Inslee’s office disputes that all of the spike is tied to the cap-and-trade program. A poll conducted last month of 600 registered Washington voters found 53 percent support the effort to end cap and trade, with a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points. State lawmakers amended the program last month to give farmers and truckers a rebate to ease the costs of fuel surcharges. But it’s not nearly enough to mollify opponents. Heywood is making an argument that industry has made in the past — but mainstream business may not be with him. Amazon, Microsoft and even oil giant BP are helping defend Washington’s law, the campaign announced….Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has also donated $1 million. BP, which had previously opposed a carbon tax proposal in the state, said it was on board with the current program “because it is an economy-wide, market-based program that can help lower carbon emissions, attract innovation, and create clean energy investment and jobs in Washington.” Inslee pointed to the positive health impacts that stem from a carbon cap and the projects the revenues have funded, like bus electrification. But Heywood said voters are feeling the crunch. “It doesn’t do anything really other than make some people feel good to address carbon dioxide output,” he said. “And it’s doing it enormously off the backs of the working class and the working poor.”