OLYMPIA… This morning a majority of members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee endorsed Initiative 2111, which would prohibit any income tax in Washington. The vote took place shortly after a majority on the Senate Law and Justice Committee had approved Initiative 2113, which would repeal the 2021 law that placed criminal-friendly restrictions on police pursuits.

Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, is a member of both committees. She made this statement after voting yes for both initiatives, which were submitted by the people of Washington to legislators this session – with more than 400,000 voter signatures in support of each – and are now expected to come before the full Senate next week.

“My vote in favor of the police-pursuit initiative was for the countless people across our state who have been victimized in the past two-plus years by criminals who knew they could simply drive away without fear of being pursued. It was also a vote to restore a policy that can only help to deter those who would steal cars or other property, and to express my trust in our law-enforcement officers to follow their training and use their judgment about when and when not to pursue.

“Most of all it was for Sergeant Jeremy Brown, of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. I believe he would be alive today if the person accused of fatally shooting him could have been pursued and most likely apprehended by other officers after a separate crime earlier that day.

“Having co-sponsored a bill to ban state and local income taxes in 2020, I was thrilled to support the no-income-tax initiative. More than one of my Democratic colleagues on the committee said this measure has no effect – and while that’s true in the sense that Washington has no income tax now, I view giving the taxpayers a shield against income taxes as being tremendously important. This initiative will ensure no income tax can be imposed on anyone.

“I wish we also could repeal the tax on income from capital-gains, but the majority is refusing to allow any action on that voter initiative [I-2109], or the initiatives that would repeal the costly cap-and-trade law [I-2117] and let people choose whether to pay the long-term care payroll tax or not [I-2124]. There is more than enough time before we adjourn next Thursday to at least have public hearings on those. I realize the initiatives will go to the November ballot if they are not enacted here, but those measures were submitted to us, and the people deserve to be heard by us all the same.”