As an organization that envisions and works toward creating a state in which every person has the opportunity to live a good life, the Budget and Policy Center has long advocated for policies that support the well-being of communities, families, and individuals. Three initiatives on the ballot next month are antithetical to this vision. Initiative 645 would strip funding from healthcare and education, while giving a tax cut to the wealthy; IL26-001 (I-001 for short) would endanger child abuse victims; and IL26-638 (I-638 for short) would require sex inspections for girls who want to play sports.

Hedge fund multi-millionaire Brian Heywood is behind all three of these harmful initiatives. With I-645, an effort to repeal the Millionaires Tax, Heywood would give himself and his ultra-wealthy friends a tax break while raising taxes and costs for the rest of us. With the two other ballot initiatives, Heywood has written proposals that would jeopardize the safety of kids and that would ban trans girls in schools from sports.

Now, with the election around the corner, we want to remind you why you should vote no on all three statewide ballot initiatives.

I-645 would undo billions in state funding while making our tax code worse

I-645 would repeal the Millionaires Tax that Washington state legislators passed earlier this year. The Millionaires Tax is a modest tax on less than 1% of the richest Washington residents that not only supports funding for schools, childcare, and healthcare but also provides tax breaks and tax exemptions for everyday people and small businesses. This historic tax will also help improve our state’s upside-down tax code, where the ultra-wealthy few get a special deal at everyone else’s expense.

By undoing this commonsense new law, I-645 would:

• Blow a $13 billion hole in our state budget between 2029 and 2032 that would result in devastating cuts to critical programs that serve all of us.
• Cancel the expansion of our state’s Working Families Tax Credit, which provides an annual cash boost to lower-income households across Washington. This expansion would provide 460,000 more households with an annual cash boost to use however they need.
• Cancel the largest tax break for small businesses in state history.
• Undo a sales tax break on some basic necessities – like hygiene products and over-the-counter medicines – that would help everyday people address the affordability crisis.

A NO vote on I-645 will protect programs and services that support the well-being of people in our state.

I-001 will endanger child abuse victims

Heywood’s so-called “parents’ bill of rights” is a confusing, poorly written initiative that would put kids who are experiencing abuse at even more risk. While most parents are loving and supportive, the heartbreaking reality is that some children are not safe in their own homes. And I-001 will force schools to hand over sensitive information about child abuse victims to abusive parents, further endangering these young people. School counselors, school nurses, and pediatricians say it will restrict students’ access to getting help for challenges like depression and anxiety, sexual assault, domestic violence, and bullying.

Because the initiative’s language is complex and confusing, its full impact remains unclear. However, here’s what we do know:

• It removes common-sense school record protections for victims of child abuse.
• It will actually weaken parental notification requirements if a child is a victim of crime at school.
• It will allow parental abusers under investigation or charged with a crime to access their victims’ private social-work and school-counseling records, putting children at greater risk of violence at home.
• It would force teachers and school counselors to “out” LGBTQ+ kids to their families, potentially leading to unsafe situations for kids, including homelessness.
• It is likely to worsen the teen mental health crisis.

A NO vote on I-001 will support the health, safety, and well-being of kids in Washington who experience abuse.

I-638 would exclude trans girls from sports and discourage all girls from playing sports

Washington should be a state where all kids feel a sense of belonging, can live up to their fullest potential, and feel safe to be who they truly are. Any initiatives targeting or scapegoating trans kids must be roundly defeated, full stop.

I-638 is the most extreme right-wing, anti-trans measure of its kind in the country. It will cause harm to both trans and cisgender girls by violating their privacy and putting up a new barrier to physical activity. This would mean subjecting them to invasive, medically unnecessary genital exams, or requiring parents to pay for costly genetic or hormone testing, just so their daughters can play sports. And parents would be banned from using birth certificates instead.

I-638 is also poorly written, but here’s what we do know:

• Many girls would miss out on the benefits of playing sports, including learning about teamwork and cooperation.
• Parents, schools, and athletic associations would lose decision-making power.
• Trans girls will face unnecessary exclusion based on misinformation and fear about what it means to be transgender.
• This kind of initiative encourages harassment, violence, and discrimination.
• Lawyers say this bill discriminates against all girls. And given that the genital exams are only required of girls and not boys, it is unconstitutional in Washington.

A NO vote on I-638 will send a clear message that all kids in Washington should be accepted for who they are.

All three initiatives would send our state backward, by making life harder for working families, for parents, for educators, and for LGBTQ+ youth. The solution is clear and easy: Vote no on the three statewide ballot measures this November.

For more information, find more resources at Defend Washington, No on 645, and No Hate in WA State.