Two initiatives to watch

As lawmakers kick off the 2024 session of the Washington State Legislature this week, they are prepared to look at many bills that impact kids and families.

They’ll also have to grapple with several initiatives from the conservative group Let’s Go Washington before the session ends March 1.

Two to follow

Two of those initiatives could have a significant impact on kids and families:

Initiative 2190 would roll back the capital gains tax, which was approved by lawmakers last year and kicked in on Jan.1.
Initiative 2081 would establish a “parents bill of rights.

Capital gains tax funds more childcare

The 7% capital gains tax, which was given the go-ahead by the Washington Supreme Court last year after opponents filed a lawsuit against it, is not an income tax. Instead, it applies to profits from the sale of stocks and certain capital assets exceeding $250,000. It does not apply to real estate, retirement accounts like IRAs, family-owned small businesses, and farms, among other things.

The tax will garner $500 million in funding for the Fair Start for Kids Act. It will boost the coffers of state-funded kindergarten readiness and childcare programs, including the Early Childhood Education And Assistance Program (ECEAP) and Head Start. Among other wins, the law should make child care more affordable by lowering co-pays for parents and increasing the number of childcare slots funded by the state.

Parents’ bill of rights

If Initiative 2081 becomes law, it would, among other things, ensure that parents can access a whole host of student records at no charge, including:

test and assessment scores
medical or health records
records of mental health counseling
records of vocational counseling, discipline
attendance and unexcused absences
screenings for learning challenges or exceptionalities

In a nutshell, 2081 would give parents access to any files, documents, and materials held by public schools and associated with their children. They would not need to appear at a school to request the records.

Among other things, the passage of the initiative would give parents the right to opt their child out of any surveys, assignments, questionnaires, role-playing activities, recordings of their child, or other student engagements that include questions about a child’s sexual experiences or attractions, family beliefs, morality, religion, political affiliations.

Parents could also require that their kids not be asked questions or assigned anything that spoke to their or a family member’s mental health or psychological issues.

It would also give parents the right to keep their kids out of sex education and give parents the right to examine textbooks and other materials used in the classroom.

What happens to initiatives during a Legislative session?

There are three possibilities for qualifying initiatives in Washington. First, lawmakers may decide to approve them during this year’s session. They can also create and pass an alternative to an initiative, which means both the initial and alternative would go to the people of Washington for a vote. If the Legislature does not act on an initiative, it goes to the ballot.

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