The election is almost upon us, and what feels shared across federal and state elections this year is that climate justice is on defense. Elections are a critical component of our work to move what’s politically possible towards what we really need: a Just Transition.
But in Washington State, we face a suite of ballot initiatives backed by wealthy donors acting solely in their own self-interests. These initiatives—I-2109, I-2117, I-2124, and I-2066—would roll back our ability to make a collective commitment to investing in our future, from child and elder care to energy and climate action.
After the election we’ll have new federal and state administrations, including a new Governor, Commissioner of Public Lands, and Attorney General, but few candidates are leading with climate or environmental justice. That leaves uncertainties around the real progress we have made together to push past climate denial and carbon fundamentalism toward an equitable policy framework that both reduces emissions and makes people’s lives better. Recent policies like the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act, Clean Energy Transformation Act have created genuine progress, as have investments from the Climate Commitment Act in Washington State, and federal policies like Justice40 and Inflation Reduction Act/Infrastructure and Jobs Act (IRA/IIJA) investments. Rollback could of course become a steamroll if the worst scenarios of massive fossil fuel extraction prove true.
But we don’t have to be only on defense. For nearly ten years at Front and Centered, we’ve come together to navigate the contradictions and advance strategies that promote a Just Transition from an extractive economy to a living, regenerative economy. Here’s what you should know about how issues in Washington State’s elections intersect with our current strategies:
Center in Governance Those Who Are Disproportionately Impacted
“If we’re not prepared to govern, we’re not prepared to win.”
Our coalition has been at the forefront of nearly a decade of efforts to advance statewide climate investments, hold corporate polluters accountable, and target investments for a Just Transition to frontline communities. The Climate Commitment Act (CCA) was a landmark policy. While its backers have oversold its climate benefits and its detractors care little about climate, the revenue mechanism has proved impressive in early years. It also made law out of the climate investment framework we co-created in I-1631 and put real money behind it. There’s plenty to fault the CCA on, not the least of which is how major polluters are largely left off the hook of any real accountability to reduce emissions. Furthermore, the Department of Ecology is seeking to amplify the CCA’s major flaws by linking Washington’s carbon market with California and Québec’s.
However, the CCA repeal initiative I-2117 is misguided and our leadership is urging folks to vote NO on I-2117. Most importantly, I-2117 would cut short the critical investments that have been made to build community capacity for the Just Transition, including $26 million toward capacity for communities to participate in HEAL Act implementation, $38.6 million to develop community participatory budgeting, as well as funding for Community Assemblies, public transportation, community energy, and climate resilience. While state agencies have work to do to make up for the shortfall in the legislature’s biggest commitment—to explicitly appropriate a minimum of 35% of CCA funding for direct and meaningful benefits to overburdened communities—I-2117 does nothing to further that cause.
Restore Community Connections to Place
“If it's the right thing to do, we have every right to do it.”
As attacks continue on people’s ability to thrive in place, whether it’s along the US-Mexico border or the housing crisis, Front and Centered is working to build healthier livelihoods through community self-determination. How these elections proceed could determine the fate of the CURB Pollution Act this fall, as well as our work on improving the enforcement of laws that are already on the books for the benefit of frontline communities.
The next year is also a year of comprehensive planning for many local jurisdictions, and thanks to HB 1181 and $5 million invested in community capacity to participate in implementing the new law, for the first time climate and environmental justice are part of the required planning elements and process. Funding for the next round of community participation could disappear without climate revenues.
Washington State could see another shortfall in transportation commitments versus transportation revenue. Both gubernatorial candidates have taken the position that they may tap climate revenues to fund highway improvement, a concerning position given highways are working directly against a “climate commitment.” But I-2117, if passed, would create a major hole in progress to fund the most important gaps in our public transportation system and equitable access, ultimately slowing down our transition off fossil fuel-powered transportation.
Transition to Renewable Resources and Energy
“What we feed, grows.”
Ensuring a transition to renewable, equitable energy generation and use can and must be a tool to achieve environmental and climate justice, and it can be a cornerstone to powering the new regenerative economy we envision. I-2066, the most recent ballot initiative to drop, takes away important tools for a Just Transition in energy. Like I-2117, I-2066 is a cynical attempt to mislead us about our future and take away our ability to plan well for it. It would cut back energy efficiency opportunities in homes and buildings and lock in energy waste, all just to ensure business as usual for extractive gas companies. Read about why we’re voting NO on I-2066 from our Clean Energy Policy Lead, Mariel Thuraisingham.
Create Livelihoods within a Healthy Environment
“If it’s not soulful, it’s not strategic.”
I-2109 would repeal Washington’s limited capital gains tax, eliminating over $2.2 billion in funding for education, childcare, and early learning by giving a tax break to the state’s wealthiest few. Meanwhile, I-2124 seeks to dismantle WA Cares (Washington’s long-term care benefit program) and would strip over 3 million workers of over $8.1 billion in guaranteed, already earned benefits.
While Front and Centered has not led the campaign for the capital gains tax or long-term care, we urge folks to vote NO on these two initiatives. Cutting those investments in our very young and our elders ignores a fundamental reality for climate justice: we cannot reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, protect ourselves from climate impacts, or care and mobilize for the planet’s well-being if we’re not caring well for ourselves and each other, body and mind.
Front and Centered is building a new movement at the intersection of climate and economic justice in our Community Assemblies work and looking into how we act across these issues—specifically, how we generate public funds equitably and invest in justice matters.
Next Steps and Taking Action
While clouds are gathering this election, there are also cracks showing in the harmful, outdated political ideas that have carried the day for decades. Both major political parties are more willing than ever to acknowledge that the government needs to play an important role in making our economy serve our values. In such times, we must continue to lead with our values as the most important thing we can take with us—not just to the voting booth this fall, but also throughout the year as we assert our communities’ right to collaboratively govern with the state and ensure that our priorities and values meaningfully shape the policymaking process. Ultimately, we must continue to lead on a daily basis with an eye toward the Just Transition we want to see.
