32^nd Legislative District Democratic Organization

Whereas, Initiative 1000 (I-1000) – Washington’s Initiative to the Legislature, was signed by nearly 400,000 voters, voted into law by the Washington State Legislature and came just 1% away from passage by the voters last November; and

Whereas, I-1000 has been reintroduced as Initiative 1776 (I-1776) to the People and filed with the WA Secretary of State as the Washington Anti-Discrimination Act (WADA); and

Whereas, I-1776 finds that, while Washington is one of America’s most economically and ethnically diverse states, seniors, women, the disabled, veterans, the LGBTQ+ community & people of color have experienced harsh discrimination, thus creating deadly health disparities; and

Whereas, I-1776 finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has unmasked the discriminatory educational, employment, economic & health disparities which have long plagued seniors, women, persons with disabilities, persons of color, military veterans, the LGBTQ+ community and other vulnerable communities in WA State; and

Whereas, I-1776 is America’s only initiative demanding COVID-19 vaccines for all Washingtonians by prohibiting discrimination in the vaccine’s availability and accessibility based on age, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, citizenship, county, income or employment; and

Whereas, I-1776 prohibits age discrimination in public jobs, schools and contracting and thus enables workers to be judged by their abilities and not their age; and

Whereas, I-1776 prohibits gender discrimination and helps our state colleges and universities increase the number of women pursuing degrees in the lucrative fields of science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM); and

Whereas, I-1776 strengthens veteran’s benefits by expanding Affirmative Action in employment beyond the Vietnam-era and disabled veterans to include all Veterans; and

Whereas, I-1776 helps small businesses compete for $3.5 billion in state contracting opportunities which state officials reported were unfairly denied to qualified small, women and minority businesses since the passage of Tim Eyman’s Initiative 200 22 years ago;

Therefore, be it Resolved that the 32nd LD Democrats endorse I-1776 as “do sign and vote yes”, to strengthen WA State’s discrimination statutes to protect individuals in public health, education, employment and contracting; and

Therefore, be it Further Resolved, that the 32nd LD Democrats urge the Washington State Democrats, and all of the County Democratic Central Committees to support the signature gathering and passage of I-1776 ; and

Therefore, be it Finally Resolved, that copies of this resolution be sent to local news outlets and to the I-1776 campaign.

Submitted by Carin Chase, PCO Holly