An initiative campaign to force a statewide vote on access to natural gas in Washington has collected 423,000 signatures, according to the organizers of I-2066.
I-2066 organizer, Brian Heywood, with the group Lets Go Washington (LetsGoWA.com), tells KVI morning host, John Carlson, that the signatures will be submitted to the Washington Secretary of State’s office in two batches, starting tomorrow July 3rd, 2024.
To hear the John Carlson interview with Heywood, click on the play button below.
Friday July 5th by the close of business is the deadline for the I-2066 campaign to turn in all voter signatures for qualification approval.
For Washington initiatives to qualify for the ballot, 324,000 signatures are legally required. Those signatures are verified by the Secretary of State’s office. Initiative campaigns collect extra signatures to account for duplicate signings or signatures of people who are not legally registered in Washington. As of 2023, Washington has 4,029,000 registered voters–about 67% of the state’s population.
If approved for the November 5th 2024 general election ballot by the Secretary of State’s office, I-2066 would trigger a statewide vote to keep or reject a law signed by Gov. Jay Inslee that forbids new natural gas service hook-ups by the largest utility in the state, Puget Sound Energy. The law was signed by Inslee as part of his climate change agenda in an effort to restrict the use of fossil fuels.
For more information on I-2066, click here.
