Two WA secretaries of state oppose bill proposing changes to initiative process
Washington Democrats this session are behind a bill that they say will ensure the state’s initiative process remains fair and transparent.
Not everyone sees it that way.
Republicans have nicknamed Senate Bill 5382 the “initiative killer,” and two top election officials are also vocally opposed: Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, and predecessor Sam Reed, a Republican who served in the same role from 2001 to 2013.
Washington citizens have been able to enact and change laws via the initiative process for more than a century.
SB 5382 would require those gathering signatures for referendum and initiative petitions to sign declarations stating that the information given is accurate, under penalty of false swearing. They’d also have to vow that signers didn’t get paid or promised gratuity for participating.
In addition, when validating petition signatures, the Secretary of State’s Office would be required to confirm that a person’s residential address matches the one on their current or prior affidavit of voter registration.
State Sen. Javier Valdez, a Seattle Democrat, said he sponsored the bill to safeguard the initiative system against errors, manipulation and fraud. He noted that other states, including California and Idaho, already have similar guardrails in place.
Valdez told McClatchy that if Washington law is going to be shaped by voters, then there should be total certainty that Washington voters signed the petitions.
“This legislation really just strengthens the voice of the people by ensuring that every petition is built on verified and countable, legitimate signatures,” Valdez said Friday. “So no Washingtonian who’s registered to vote and signs a petition is going to have their signature denied or have their access to democracy denied.”
Detractors have aired concerns that the proposal would chill participation in the democratic process. Under the bill, signature gatherers convicted of false swearing could face penalties of up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.
But Valdez said the bill isn’t about punishing people for minor mistakes: “This is just really about ensuring that those signatures are actually valid.”
He also said that if someone forgot to include their apartment number, or if their ZIP code was off by a digit or two, that it wouldn’t disqualify their signature.
Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen of Seattle has said he doesn’t think the measure would keep people from sharing their views.
“The basic reform that it proposes is that you would actually match up a signature with the address of a registered voter,” Pedersen said during a Tuesday media availability. “Wow, that does not seem like a big leap.”
The bill passed the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs and Elections Committee on Feb. 18 on a 5-4 vote along party lines. It’s now scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. public hearing on Monday, Feb. 24 in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Secretaries of State oppose
In an emailed statement, the Office of the Secretary of State said Hobbs’ position is that anything serving as an impediment or hurdle to the initiative process “is not helpful” to residents.
“Adding a voter’s residential address to the process of validating voters’ eligibility to sign an initiative petition is unnecessary and won’t help voters in any demonstrative way,” the statement continued. “Secretary Hobbs is against SB 5382.”
Reed also recently penned a letter to lawmakers expressing “serious concerns” about the bill. He told McClatchy during a Friday phone interview that the initiative process is one of the state’s historical legacies.
The former secretary of state said he worries the bill would restrict voters’ access to the initiative process. He also fears it would “put all the onus on the person who is circulating the petitions, and have the voter deprived of his or her participation in the process because of some mistake that the person circulating the petition makes.”
Reed noted that when there was an initiative to legalize marijuana in Washington, Democrats loved the process. Republicans at the time wanted to impose more restrictions. Yet now, after seven initiatives challenging progressive policies qualified for last year’s ballot, Reed said, the tables have turned.
“I’ve been in this election process since the 1970s,” he said, “and I just don’t think we ought to change the rules because we’re unhappy about something that happened last year or the year before.”
Asked to respond to the concerns of the current and past secretaries of state, Valdez replied that they’re entitled to their opinions.
“We’re just trying to ensure that the Secretary of State’s Office does its role in ensuring that every signature is actually valid,” he said.
This story was originally published February 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Two WA secretaries of state oppose bill proposing changes to initiative process."
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