To Our Defenders:

We want to share some encouraging news with you. Here are updates on:

• Two Recent Top Bills

• The Legislative Schedule

• The Prayer Tour

• The Importance of Voting

Income Tax & Sheriff Bills

First of all, THANK YOU for registering CON against the Income Tax Bill SB 6346. It was an historic, record-shattering outpouring of opposition against the most unpopular bill in Washington State history:

Those who favor an income tax attempted to downplay such a massive turnout by claiming it was “bots” who registered or other insecurities in the system. While it is true that some duplicate sign-ins need to be removed for an accurate final total, as is done on every bill, the major point of overwhelming opposition cannot be denied: some 90% were CON.

As Brian Heywood of Let’s Go WA says:

This past week, we also were encouraged by the overwhelming opposition to the Sheriff’s Bill SB 5974, which would undermine independent sheriffs: 11,684 were opposed and 1,973 were in favor.

We will continue to track and share with you any developments on both the Income Tax and Sheriff Bills.

The Legislative Schedule

Here’s where we are in the schedule.

Fiscal Cutoff is Monday, March 2nd. This will be the last day for bills to be read in opposite chamber committees. This fiscal cutoff will be followed by another round of floor debates with focus then shifting to the three budgets: Operating, Capitol, and Transportation.

Accordingly, Action Alerts will not be issued on such fiscal bills since the bills themselves are not being considered, but only their fiscal impact and whether or not they fit within the budget.

Last year, however, there were a few surprises with some last-minute bills that Democrats attempted to “sneak through”. If those occur, we will be issuing Action Alerts.

(To see the Legislative Schedule in full, please click here.)

The Prayer Tour

We are delighted to share the success of this year’s Prayer Tour, which has even been more popular than last year. Hundreds have already come to Olympia to pray for our state and legislators. A few legislators have come by to join us, and we prayed for them. (For more pictures, click here and here.)

There are still two weeks remaining in the Session, and you can join Pastor Ken Ramey and fellow believers by signing up here.

Elections Have Consequences

We close our message to you with a reminder of the importance of voting. The bills that pass through chambers – such as the Income Tax and Sheriff Bills mentioned above – are the logical result of elections. Democrats are able to pass nearly any legislation they wish because of such large majorities in both the Senate (30 to 19) and the House (59 to 39).

More conservatives in office are needed!

Here’s an upcoming opportunity to make an impact. In November, the entire House roster will be up for re-election, and half of the Senate will be, too. Our voice matters, and we wish to shape our state with more conservative, biblical values.

You can find a myriad of resources to help you with voting by clicking here.

We look forward to these final two weeks with you as the Legislative Session unfolds with more debates and action. This session is without question one for the history books!

Defending the family,

Brad Payne, President
FPIW Action