TUMWATER, WA – Today, Washington voters submitted 424,896 signatures to qualify Initiative 2124 (I-2124) for the November ballot. I-2124 would allow mothers, seniors, migrant workers, caretakers and others disadvantaged by the state’s mandatory payroll tax long-term care insurance scheme to have a choice to opt out if it does not fit their needs. Flaws in the current program would put it in immediate legal jeopardy if it were run by a private company.
“It’s almost like it was specifically constructed to disenfranchise young mothers, seniors and migrant workers,” said Brian Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington. “Anyone who chooses to step away from their career for a time has to start over and may end up with nothing to show for all the money taken out of their paycheck.”
The mandatory payroll tax requires that workers pay taxes for at least ten years to receive benefits. If they take a break of five years or more to have children or take care of a family member, they will have to start over. Most seniors and migrant workers will never be able to meet the ten year requirement as the law is currently written, despite paying the mandatory tax.
“This scheme is so deeply flawed, if you tried to run this program privately, you’d be investigated by the government and sued,” Heywood said. “People in need will have money taken from their paycheck to pay for an inadequate benefit that will be paid out to people who are not in need. It’s an abusive insurance scheme that Washington workers should be able to opt out of.”
I-2124 will be the sixth of six initiatives submitted by Let’s Go Washington with over 420,000 signatures, delivering 424,896 signatures today, much more than the 324,519 required to qualify. The voter advocacy group collected more than 2.6 million total signatures for initiatives designed to put state policies back in alignment with voters.
Heywood said, “Washington voters want to be able to pay their bills, protect their family and build a future here in this state. Each of these initiatives will help us bring the state back into line with these priorities and fix what is broken.”
