What Are I-2124 Backers Trying to Hide From Voters?

A Thurston County Superior Court judge recently denied a lawsuit filed by State GOP Chair Jim Walsh and backers of ballot initiatives I-2109, I-2117 and I-2124 to hide “Public Investment Impact Disclosures” from voters. 

The suit was a deceptive attempt to flout Washington state law (HB 1876), requiring that a one sentence “neutral, non prejudicial disclosure of the public investments affected” by any voter initiative be added to the ballot language for that measure.  This is the first year that these important “Public Investment Impact Disclosures” (PIIDs) will appear on the ballot.

The move by initiative backers to try to block legally required statements about the initiatives’ impact on taxpayers should be a wake up call to voters and is further evidence that the measures are deceptive and misleading. 

I-2124 backers intentionally crafted the initiative to sound like an innocuous and appealing change - making the state’s long term health care insurance program voluntary.  What they know, but aren’t saying, is that leading experts on long term care financing - including the insurance industry itself - say that change would bankrupt the program, leaving more than 3.5 million Washingtonians without benefits they’ve been building since July 2023.

In an April 2024 poll, the three initiatives fell far below the 50% needed to pass, especially when the 10 words of the public investment impact statement was included. 

The Washington Constitution provides voters with the right to participate in the lawmaking process through the initiative and referendum processes. Voters have a right to know the cost to taxpayers of these initiatives and the impact on the state’s ability to provide care benefits to Washingtonians who are enrolled in the state’s public long term care insurance program.

In a press conference Friday June 7th, Dr. Stephan Blanford, Executive Director of the Children’s Alliance, blasted the attempt to hide information from voters:

“Voters have the right to know the fiscal impacts of these three initiatives, plan and simple. By giving mega-millionaires and billionaires a tax break while cutting funding for education and early learning, I-2109 will put more tax pressure on the rest of us and push our education system further into the red. By taking away $8.1 billion in long-term care funding, I-2124 will put more tax pressure on Millennials and Gen Z to pay for a tidal wave of state Medicaid costs for aging Washingtonians, and increase the cost of care for millions of middle income families. I-2117 would allow more pollution across Washington, devastate funding air, water, and land protection, and cut funding to prevent wildfires and investments in transportation.”

More: Seattle Times: A welcome victory for more information during election season