Washington Legislature’s ‘Green Agenda’ Faces Fall Test in Referendums Seeking Repeals

The Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility, located in Central Washington, is Puget Sound Energy's second wind-powered electric generation facility. It is the utility's largest wind farm with 149 turbines with the ability to generate up to 273 megawatts (MW) of electricity. (Puget Sound Energy)

Efforts to repeal incentives in state laws that favor renewable energy sources in Michigan and Colorado will not get on 2024 ballots, but the “green agenda” will go before Evergreen State voters this fall.

Washingtonians will be asked to repeal two climate change/clean energy bills adopted by the state’s Democrat-dominated legislature and endorsed by Gov. Jay Inslee in two initiatives set for the state’s Nov. 5 ballot.

Initiative 2117 would repeal the 2021 Washington Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and I-2066 would bar municipalities from “prohibiting, penalizing or discouraging” the use of natural gas, negating implementation of House Bill 1589, a 2024-adopted law that requires utilities find renewable alternates to natural gas.

The Washington ballot measures are among the most prominent energy policy clashes nationwide on 2024 ballots with the withdrawal of the proposed California Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Limit Initiative, or California Climate Solutions Act, and failure of measures elsewhere to qualify.

The proposed Colorado ‘Prohibit Restrictions on Energy Sources Initiative,’ or Initiative 116, was withdrawn in May by Protect Colorado, a PAC financed by state oil and gas operators. It would have prohibited municipalities and public utilities from restricting power-generation sources.

A proposed initiative to repeal Michigan’s renewable energy permitting laws also will not make November’s ballot, but supporters are reorganizing for a 2026 berth.

Citizens for Local Choice failed to turn in the 356,958 signatures needed by the May deadline to get its proposal to do away with state permitting preemption in large-scale wind, solar and battery-storage projects.

That preemption is included in Michigan’s 2023 Clean Energy and Jobs Act adopted by state lawmakers advancing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s pledge to “transition” Michigan to “100-percent clean energy” by 2040.

In Washington, however, supporters backed by Let’s Go Washington and Taxpayers Accountability Alliance, both founded and financed by conservative donor and Taiyo Pacific Partners CEO Brian Heywood, have spent more than $10.6 million in getting seven ‘Initiatives To the Legislature’ before lawmakers and voters.

Washington is one of nine states where a citizen-initiated ballot measure seeking to qualify for the ballot is first presented to state lawmakers as an ‘Initiative to the Legislature.’ If legislators take no action or reject it, it is put on the next general election ballot.

With Washington State Republican Party Chair and state Rep. Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen) carrying the initiatives during the 2024 session, three were adopted by lawmakers—an income tax ban, a lifting of police pursuit restrictions, and a parental bill of rights.

Getting three initiatives adopted by lawmakers is a remarkable achievement. In the 112 years since the state initiative process was established, only six have been  approved by lawmakers.

The legislature opted not to act on the other four. But, with I-2066, the Natural Gas Access Initiative, surpassing the needed 325,000 voter signatures on July 5, Washington voters will see all four on their Nov. 5 ballots.

The other two are I-2109, to repeal the capital gains tax, and I-2124, to allow individuals to opt out of the WA Cares payroll tax.

Outside the Washington State Capitol in Olympia, Washington. (SchnepfDesign/Shutterstock)

Citizens Get a Choice

I-2117 targets the 2021 Washington CCA, which pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide by 95 percent by 2050 using a “cap-and-invest” program.

Under the program, businesses that annually exceed 25,000 metric tons of emissions—primarily industrial and manufacturing plants—must purchase additional “emission allowances” from commercial users with air to sell.

The program is “a hidden tax” that is mushrooming into a massive boondoggle and should be ditched, Mr. Walsh argued in hearings, floor debates, and in campaign literature, claiming the program has cost Washington businesses $1.5 billion “this year alone.”

Mr. Heywood in Let’s Go Washington campaign literature and statements maintains proponents “knowingly lied” about costs and inefficiencies in cap-and-invest but pushed the “sneaky tax” through anyway knowing it would add $1 to a gallon of gas.

“Citizens deserve to have an honest debate on this, not one based on falsehoods,” he said.

Washington Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) filings show Let’s Go Washington and Taxpayers Accountability Alliance contributed $10.6 million to ballot campaigns through May 30, but not how much spent on each of the four. Records show Mr. Heywood kicking in at least $9.3 million of his own money.

Proponents say cap-and-invest, cap-and-tax, and cap-and-trade programs create commodities literally out of air. The programs incentivize businesses to reduce carbon footprints and profit by selling or trading unused emission capacity in a competitive market, supporters say.

The campaign against I-2117 is spearheaded by No On 2117 and Stop Greed. They have raised $5.8 million, including $1 million contributions each from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Tableau Software founder Chris Stolte, to contest I-2117 as well as I-2066, I-2109, and I-2124, according to PDC filings.

The No On I-2117 coalition includes the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Amazon, Microsoft, unions, Audubon Washington, BP America, Environmental Defense Action Fund, League of Women Voters of Washington, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, and many other groups.

No On 2117 maintains since adopted in 2021, cap-and-invest has generated $1.8 billion in ‘air auction’ revenues dedicated to financing popular environmental projects and investments in community priorities.

Proponents seek to “shift the burden of paying for the impacts of pollution onto local communities and families,”No On I-2117 maintains.

I-2066 calls on voters to repeal 2024’s HB 1859, which allows Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to accelerate rate schedules (increases) in recovering costs associated with phasing out billions of dollars in gas pipelines and equipment it won’t need as it transitions—under the CCA—to renewable energy sources.

HB 1859 also mandates PSE phase-out gas infrastructure in its 2027 electrification plan update. I-2066 would lift that requirement.

In a March appeal from the House floor, Mr. Walsh said HB 1859 is “the continuation of bad public policy” in the wake of the CCA’s 2021 adoption and urged lawmakers to reject it—or face voters’ verdict at the polls.

“Working people of the state are tired of hearing the promises of decarbonization but having to live with the effects of bureaucratic fees that drive up the cost of living, of their utilities, that drive up their grocery bills, we must stop these bad policies,” he said before the bill was adopted.

Although the state is led by a progressive state legislature committed to inducing a green energy transition, Washington’s voters have been less enthusiastic.

In 2016, nearly 60 percent of Washington voters rejected Carbon Washington’s I-732, which would have taxed carbon emissions at $15 per metric ton in a “revenue neutral” proposal that also lowered state sales tax from 6.5 to 5.5 percent, increased its family tax credit, and reduced business/occupation tax rates from a half-percent to 0.001 percent.

In 2018, Washington voters again, this time by an equally convincing 57-43 percent margin, shot down a similar proposal, I-1631, which would have enacted a carbon emissions fee of $15 per metric ton beginning in 2020, increasing by $2 each year until state greenhouse gas reduction goals were met.