Blue state legislature passes parents’ bill of rights, critic calls it a ‘right-wing hot air’ balloon

A parents' bill of rights will soon become law in Washington state after the legislature green lit three citizen initiatives a controversial group sent their way. But some progressives believe the legislature strategically approved inconsequential laws to preserve political energy for fighting the remaining initiatives they feel present a greater threat.

Initiative 2081 is designed to bolster parental involvement in education by allowing parents of public school students to review instructional materials like textbooks and curricula upon request, easily access their child's medical and academic records and opt their child out of assignments or instruction having to do with sexuality.

Washington lawmakers passed an initiative intended to increase parents' rights in their children's education. The initiative was sponsored by the group Let's Go Washington, which ran a vigorous signature gathering campaign last year for six initiatives in total. (iStock)

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The initiative, sponsored by the group Let's Go Washington, overwhelmingly passed both chambers in the final days of the legislative session. The other two passed this week rolled back some restrictions on police chases and codified Washington's status as an income tax-free state. They take effect June 5 and don't require Gov. Jay Inslee's signature.

LGW founder Brian Heywood told Fox News in a statement that, six months ago, such a victory was "unthinkable to radical progressives."

"They were quick to categorize all of the initiatives as ‘right-wing extremist’ policies that didn’t have a chance of passing," he wrote. "Washingtonians who signed the initiatives knew they were common sense measures."

LGW secured more than the 324,000 signatures required to send each of the proposals to the legislature for consideration. Lawmakers had the option to either pass them right away or take no action and let the initiatives go before voters in the next election.

The remaining three initiatives — which legislative leaders said they won't act on — would repeal the state's capital gains tax, allow employees to opt out of a long-term care insurance program and repeal the state's new cap and trade program, which critics say raised Washington's gas prices by about 45 cents per gallon.

Washington lawmakers approved half of LGW's six initiatives. The remaining three will go on the November ballot and face stiff opposition from Democrats in the Evergreen State. (David Ryder/Getty Images)

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One of the groups that most vocally opposed LGW now says the legislature was being strategic when it passed the first three initiatives, which are "basically just right-wing hot air balloons meant to inflame the Republican base and troll Democrats."

"By keeping these deceptive measures off the ballot, the Legislature is setting us up to win on the serious threats, and making sure voters reject the three initiatives that would devastate funding for our kids and schools, dismantle our protections against air and water pollution, and repeal efforts to care for our seniors," Fuse Washington Executive Director Aaron Ostrom wrote in an email to Fox News.

Democratic House and Senate leaders' own statements support Ostrom's theory.

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Roughly 90% of the parental rights initiative is already law, they wrote in a Seattle Times op-ed. And while some constituents raised concerns in public testimony that the law might target LGBTQ+ youth, Democrats ultimately decided the initiative does not change existing protections for such groups.

"We stand prepared to change the law should it put any member of the LGBTQ+ community at risk or threaten in any way a young person’s right to protected health care," House Speaker Rep. Laurie Jinkins and Sen. Jamie Pedersen wrote (emphasis theirs).

Lawmakers have also taken steps to safeguard "LGBQ+ representation" this session, they wrote. One bill bans schools from banning books about protected groups. Another makes it more difficult to close libraries, after the presence of controversial books sparked an ultimately unsuccessful community effort to shutter a rural Washington library last year. 

Brian Heywood started the political action committee Let's Go Washington to advocate for numerous conservative-leaning initiatives. (Screenshot via We The Governed/YouTube)

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Jinkins and Pedersen wrote that the other three initiatives "would cause devastating and deeply felt cuts." Those will go on the November ballot.

"The only reason radical progressives did not approve all six common sense initiatives is because of government greed," Heywood wrote. "Backroom deals with union bosses and progressive special interests outweigh real tax relief for working class Washingtonians."

LGW ran a robust signature gathering campaign for the six initiatives last year, drawing fierce opposition in the Democrat-controlled state. The mayor of Yakima called 911 to report "far right-wing petitioners at Walmart" she believed were harassing shoppers. Former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna accused several groups of a "coordinated intimidation campaign" against LGW signature gatherers, which included the creation of a hotline for reporting their locations.