Government
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BRIAN HEYWOOD STATEMENT ON TODAY’S LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW
REDMOND, WA - Today, during the Legislative Preview, Senator Jamie Pedersen and Speaker Lauri Jinkins announced that they will not be holding hearings on the initiatives submitted to the Secretary of State’s office one week ago. IL26-001, the initiative to strengthen communication between parents and schools, received416,201 signatures and IL26-638, the initiative to protect fairness in girls’ sports, received 445,187 signatures.
In response to their comments, Let’s Go Washington founder, Brian Heywood, issued the following statement:
“Senator ‘Pie Crust’ Pedersen and Speaker Jinkins reported today that they won’t be giving hearings to the two initiatives supported by 861,388 voters. While we’ve seen this song and dance before, we want to strongly urge them to reconsider. Not only would this be a blatant slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of Democrat, Independent, and Republican voters who support the measures, it would be a clear sign that they don’t care about the abuses to children, families, and female athletes taking place in the state. Our initiatives seek to protect students and female athletes; why are Democrat leaders afraid to take a stand for them? We are asking all supporters of the initiatives to reach out to Senator PCP (jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov) and Speaker Jinkins ([360]-786-7930) and ask them to do the right thing by giving the initiatives the hearings they deserve.”
In 2024, the legislature also announced that they wouldn’t hold hearings on any of the people’s initiatives because they wouldn’t have the time, then later held hearings on and passed three initiatives into state law.
Background: During an interview with KUOW at the end of last year, Senator Jamie Pedersen commented that he didn’t care very much that he and his colleagues had voted in support of I-2111 to affirm that the legislature wouldn’t impose an income tax. He called their vote a “pie crust promise: easily made, easily broken,” and said that if they wanted to change the law, they would and could. Thus, he has been dubbed Pie Crust Pedersen.
Visit letsgowashington.com for more information.
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Voter Initiative Process on WA Secretary of State
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