State certifies ballot measure that would overturn Washington’s carbon auction market

OLYMPIA – Washington voters will have the chance to repeal or uphold the state’s landmark climate policy this November.

Supporters of the Climate Commitment Act point to its promise for a future of less carbon emissions in the state and furthered responses to climate change. Revenue from the program is earmarked to go back into green state programs such as buying electric school buses and making public transit free for children.

Critics of the climate policy blame the new law for driving up the cost of gas and food at the expense of working-class Washingtonians. Some argue that the program doesn’t make sense while some nearby states, such as Idaho, don’t have any type of carbon auction.

On Tuesday, the Secretary of State’s Office announced that organizers of an effort to repeal the 2-year-old climate act collected more than 400,000 signatures to put an initiative on the ballot.

The climate law requires the state’s biggest polluters, such as power companies and oil refineries, to start paying for their greenhouse gas emissions through buying allowances in auctions. So far, the auctions have raised roughly $1.8 billion.

For the last few months, Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has been pushing the Legislature to pass a bill that would link Washington’s carbon auction market with those in California and Quebec. Inslee and the bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, contend it would drive down the price at the pump.

The repeal effort, Initiative 2117, was organized by Let’s Go Washington, a political action committee dedicated to repealing laws passed by the Democrat-led state Legislature.

Brian Heywood, a business owner from Redmond, Washington, has bankrolled the climate act reversal proposal and five other initiatives, spending $1 million on each trying to get them on the November ballot.

“This is a triple tax on consumers, adding costs at the gas pump, the grocery store, and on home heating bills,” Heywood said in a statement. “The Legislature’s cap and tax scheme will not reduce even one ounce of carbon emissions. It has already taken a bite out of family budgets and put a heavy burden on commuters just so politicians can distribute feel-good subsidies to their political friends and allies.”

Because the effort to repeal the climate act is an initiative to the Legislature, its future lies in the hands of lawmakers who have three options on what to do with it: They can adopt the initiative as written, reject it or refuse to act on it.

The Democrat-led Legislature is unlikely to adopt the initiative. And in both the case of a rejection and a refusal to act, it will end up in front of voters on the November ballot.

This week, Inslee urged voters to support his climate policy.

“Just last week, scientists confirmed that 2023 was the hottest on record. Washingtonians understand the urgency and importance of protecting our air, water and climate,” Inslee said.