On Nov. 21, Let’s Go Washington, a committee sponsoring six citizen-initiated ballot measures, submitted signatures for one of them—Initiative 2117. The initiatives would appear on the ballot at the general election in Nov. 2024.
Initiative 2117 was designed to prohibit carbon tax credit trading and repeal provisions of the 2021 Washington Climate Commitment Act (CCA), a state law that provided for a cap-and-invest program designed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 95% by 2050. The cap-and-invest program sets a cap on the total carbon emissions in the state and requires businesses with emissions exceeding 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year (such as fuel suppliers and natural gas and electric utility companies) to obtain allowances equal to their allowed greenhouse gas emissions. The cap-and-invest program was designed to allow businesses that reduce emissions to sell their remaining carbon emission allowance permits to other companies.
The initiative was proposed by State Rep. Jim Walsh (R-19). Walsh said, “This cap and trade gas tax scheme is what is making Washington’s price of living the highest in the nation alongside California. This cap and trade gas tax scheme has created over $1.5 BILLION for Olympia Bureaucrats in this year alone – paid for by working families – and it doesn’t actually reduce emissions.”
