Organizers of an effort to repeal the 2021 Climate Commitment Act collected enough signatures to move forward toward the November ballot, the Secretary of State’s Office announced Tuesday, checking another box for the Republican-backed measure.
The act, Washington’s landmark climate change policy, requires the state’s top polluters to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions by buying allowances at quarterly auctions, which began last year. So far the auctions have raised an estimated $1.8 billion.
The repeal effort, Initiative 2117, will now go to the state Legislature, which could adopt it into law, unlikely for a statehouse with a Democratic majority. Otherwise the General Assembly could propose an alternative ballot measure to appear alongside 2117 or allow the repeal effort to appear by itself on the November ballot.
Detractors like those behind the repeal effort, paint the carbon markets as a cash grab from Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee. They also accuse his administration of glossing over the real-world consequences of the policy.
“This is a triple tax on consumers, adding costs at the gas pump, the grocery store and on home heating bills,” said Brian Heywood, a Republican megadonor, in a statement. Heywood is backing Let’s Go Washington, the political group behind the repeal effort.
Even some Democrats, like state Sen. Mark Mullet, have said the carbon markets are moving too fast. Mullet filed a bill for this year’s short legislative session that would scale back early emission reduction goals.
Inslee and his allies stand by the policy, though, arguing that it’s the most effective way for Washington to cut carbon emissions, fund green initiatives and to encourage other states to follow suit.
“Just last week, scientists confirmed that 2023 was the hottest on record,” the governor said in a statement. “Washingtonians understand the urgency and importance of protecting our air, water and climate.”
House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon said the Legislature appears unlikely to propose an alternative measure for the ballot, but it could do so up until the session ends on March 7.
“I think we could beat 2117 in a head-to-head, fair fight,” Fitzgibbon said.
The bulk of the campaign against the repeal will likely be demonstrating the value the Climate Commitment Act provides to Washingtonians, Fitzgibbon said. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one part of that value but so too is cutting traffic congestion, protecting habitat for salmon and other tangible benefits.
In his statement, Inslee mentioned other investments on the way from carbon auction proceeds like electric school buses, free transit for children, thousands of new electric vehicle charging stations, rebates for heat pumps and utility assistance for nearly 2 million people.
“We know our children’s future is at stake, and we will not go backwards,” Inslee said.
Let’s Go Washington submitted more than 400,000 signatures for the repeal initiative in November. That measure is just one of six the group wants on the ballot this year, mostly efforts to roll back policies passed by Democrats.
Initiative 2117 needed at least 324,516 of those signatures to be verified to make the ballot and Tuesday morning Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office certified the results.
