PORT ANGELES — Washington voters will be asked to cast their ballots on four separate initiatives on Nov. 5.
The initiatives address the Climate Commitment Act, the capital gains tax, the WA Cares program and use of natural gas in new construction.
The Port Angeles Business Association convened advocates and opponents to debate the initiatives at Joshua’s Restaurant Tuesday morning.
Initiative 2117 aims to repeal the 2021 Climate Commitment Act (CCA) and bar state agencies from imposing any type of program involving the trading of carbon tax credits.
The CCA raised almost $2 billion from the sale and auction of allowances in 2023 when it went into effect, the Washington State Standard reported.
That money has been used to purchase electric school buses and electric vehicle chargers, make public transit free for youth, monitor air quality, support a one-time $200 energy credit for low- and moderate-income families and more.
State Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, the initiative sponsor and author, said the CCA won’t decrease carbon outputs and has increased the cost of energy, utilities, groceries and gas.
“Vote yes, pay less,” was his oft-repeated mantra. “We don’t need more taxes in this state.”
Peter Steelquist, Washington policy manager for the Surfrider Foundation, said the CCA “is serving the citizens of the state well right now.”
Steelquist said the initiative would cripple the state’s transportation system and not allow for necessary infrastructure funding for new ferries, fish passages and more.
The CCA also is necessary to reduce climate change impacts, Steelquist said.
“The Peninsula is ground zero for climate change,” he said.
Walsh said there is no reliable metric that can measure the CCA’s effects on carbon outputs. He compared the CCA to California’s cap-and-trade program, which he said has not resulted in a net decrease of carbon outputs.
According to the Berkeley Law Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, California’s program has helped reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions.
“A cap-and-trade system has been shown to work,” Steelquist said.
Initiative 2109 aims to repeal the state’s capital gains tax, which levies a 7 percent tax on the sale or exchange of long-term capital assets such as stocks, bonds and business interests.
The tax only applies to amounts above $262,000 and does not apply to real estate sales, according to the Washington State Standard.
During its first year of implementation in 2022, the tax generated about $786 million. The money is used to fund schools, early learning, childcare programs and school construction and renovation.
Wendy Rae Johnson, an elected Clallam Conservation District Board Supervisor, speaking in a personal capacity, said Initiative 2019 will only give a tax break to less than 4,000 people, or “people with more money than they could ever spend in a lifetime.”
Correspondingly, she said the initiative also will take away funding from kids.
“This tax can change the lives of those who are most affected by the consolidation of wealth that has occurred in our country in recent years,” Johnson said.
Walsh said the capital gains tax is “the first step towards a graduated state income tax [that] is explicitly unconstitutional.”
“[Initiative 2109] repeals the convoluted, Jesuitical excise tax and says the government has to live within its means,” he said.
Initiative 2124 aims to allow Washington residents to opt out of paying into the WA Cares Fund, which supports the state’s long-term care program.
The tax takes 58 cents from every $100 of a Washington resident’s paycheck, and it allows qualifying individuals to access long-term care benefits beginning in July 2026, with a lifetime cap of $36,500, according to the Washington State Standard.
Those benefits can be used to offset expenses such as caretaking, equipment, medication and meals for individuals who are older, injured or disabled.
“People know the benefit is not worth the money taken out of their paychecks,” Walsh said.
Walsh said Medicaid already provides long-term care coverage for individuals who are otherwise indigent.
Johnson said Medicaid doesn’t provide adequate coverage for enough people, as it requires individuals applying for nursing homes to have income less than $2,829 a month and assets less than $2,000.
“This program [WA Cares] is to help bridge the gap that puts people into destitution,” she said. “A small tax that allows people to not go bankrupt over the final year of a loved one’s life is worth every cent to the future and the prosperity of the next generation.”
Initiative 2066 aims to bar cities and counties from prohibiting, penalizing or discouraging the use of natural gas in their homes, according to the Washington State Standard.
The initiative arose in response to House Bill (HB) 1589, which is a planning bill requiring Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to demonstrate the costs of electrification as part of its integrated system plan, according to PSE.
Greg McCarry, president of Westerra Homes LLC, said HB 1589 would practically ban the use of natural gas in new construction and severely impact people who currently use natural gas.
“Bottom line is that I’m pro-choice on energy, and natural gas is an option that should be preserved,” he said.
________
Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
