HELP STOP SENATE BILL 5382
“This bill is completely absurd and un-American.” – 14th LD constituent
The current Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (Democrat) and former Secretary of State Sam Reed (Republican) BOTH oppose SB 5382 and say it would not be good for Washington. Kill this bill.
Washington’s initiative process is a vital tool for direct democracy, ensuring that the people have a voice in shaping the state’s laws. This form of direct democracy empowers voters by giving them a mechanism to shape policy when they feel lawmakers are not addressing certain issues.
Senate Bill 5382 threatens the initiative process and will make it harder for the people to have their say, partly because it threatens to fine or jail signature gatherers if they falsely swear that each person signing the form read the whole petition and that no one was offered or took compensation or a gratuity to sign.
Former Secretary of State Sam Reed opposes the bill and write a letter to the legislators on the committee expressing his concerns.
What does this bill do?
SB 5382 would require signature gatherers to sign an affidavit swearing that every petitioner signing the initiative sheet reviewed it and signed without compensation or gratuity — or the promise thereof. Otherwise, the signature gatherer would be guilty of a gross misdemeanor and could receive a $5,000 fine or 364 days in jail (or both).
SB 5382 would also require an address match for a signature to be valid, which the Office of the Secretary of State says will increase the workload needed to verify the signatures and will likely require more full manual counts. The excuse for this is that it would stop fraud and abuse by paid signature gatherers. However, invalid signatures are already caught by the current system and reported. If the numbers of those are high, it’s reported to the state patrol.
“If the people knew what their Legislature is trying to do to them, I think they would be appalled. The state constitution says the initiative
is the first power reserved by the people. Unfortunately, my colleagues are taking it away from them.”
Sen. Jeff Wilson, 19th LD
Lead Republican on the State Government and Elections Committee
Why is this a bad bill?
- UNCONSTITUTIONAL: SB 5382 is a bad bill primarily because it is unconstitutional. Article II Section 1 of the state constitution states that legislation pertaining to initiatives/referenda may be enacted only to “facilitate its operation.” This entire bill is a roadblock, not a facilitation. Petitions to enact new law should be easy for citizens to manage.
- UNNECESSARY: Fraud and abuse are already captured by the current process, and holding signature gatherers personally liable for the validity of the signatures when the state already has an effective process for weeding out the bad ones is absurd.
- ANTIDEMOCRATIC: SB 5382 would have a chilling effect by using a heavy hand to discourage people from volunteering to gather signatures. The timing of this bill is no coincidence. Being introduced after citizens of Washington submitted seven initiatives to shine a light on what the Democrat majority in the Legislature enacted makes one wonder if the bill is intended to stop future efforts to hold the Democrats accountable – to silence the people who don’t agree with them.
- SLANDEROUS: The intent section of the bill attacks signature gatherers as if they are the only ones who can be guilty of fraud and abuse where petitions are concerned. This ignores the fact that someone signing the petition could lie. Not only that, but it can create “false negatives,” where valid signatures end up being rejected that would currently be accepted on a valid petition.
- DANGEROUS: SB 5382 weaponizes the initiative process by providing a means by which bad actors could sabotage the process and frame signature gatherers for fraud/abuse. Someone could easily lie about having read the entire petition. People lie all the time about having read the terms and conditions for different websites and services.
Why is the initiative process important?
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Citizen Empowerment – The initiative process ensures that ordinary people, not just elected officials, can influence public policy. It allows voters to propose new laws or repeal existing ones.
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Government Accountability – If the legislature fails to act on issues important to the public, citizens can use initiatives to push policies forward without relying on politicians.
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Political Balance – Washington is a politically diverse state, and the initiative process allows voices from across the spectrum to be heard, preventing any single party from dominating the legislative agenda.
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Encourages Civic Engagement – Gathering signatures, debating issues, and voting on initiatives increase public participation in the democratic process.
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Checks and Balances – The initiative process serves as a check on government power by giving voters the ability to counteract legislative decisions they disagree with.
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Flexibility and Responsiveness – Initiatives can address urgent or emerging issues more quickly than waiting for the legislative process to play out.
You can contact Senate Democrat leaders and tell them NOT to bring SB 5382 to the Senate floor for a vote.
Majority Floor Leader: marcus.riccelli@leg.wa.gov
Senate Majority Leader: jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov
If Democrats bring the bill to the Senate floor for a vote, the bill will pass because Democrats have the majority. If it passes, it will go to the House of Representatives for consideration, where you will get another chance to stop the bill from becoming law.
What are your friends and neighbors saying about this bill?
“This bill would effectively dismantle the people’s“ right to direct democracy a right enshrined in Washington’s Constitution for over a century. In 1912, Washington State became one of the first states to embrace the Initiative and Referendum process and empower its people with direct democracy. It is disgraceful that over 100 years later, some lawmakers want to take this power away.
“SB 5382 mandates signature gatherers to swear or affirm that petitioners have reviewed the petition sheet. I want to remind committee members that this is the United States of America! Whether to review the petition sheet or not is up to the petitioner. You can’t even mandate voters to review the voter pamphlet, so why set the bar so high for initiative and referendum petitioners and signature gatherers?
“Name one state that requires signature gatherers to swear or affirm that petitioners have reviewed the petition sheet. There is none. Why?
“Because it is completely absurd and un-American.
“SB 5382 is a trap designed to target signature gatherers: discouraging them from collecting signatures, subjecting them to expensive lawsuits, and threatening them with fines and even jail time under the state’s current activist justice system. Without signature gatherers, whether paid or volunteer, it is impossible to collect enough signatures to qualify initiatives and referendums for the ballot. This will effectively end the initiative and referendum process in Washington State, which is the ultimate and malicious goal of its sponsors. People can see right through this.”
“If SB 5382 passes, it will intimidate and scare ANYONE, especially unpaid volunteers, from exercising their First Amendment right to petition the government by collecting signatures on initiative petitions. This bill threatens regular citizens with 364 days in jail or a $5000 fine if they don’t swear under penalty of perjury that everyone who signed a petition is a valid voter. That is completely unknowable to anyone except the Secretary of State who is the only one who has access to voters’ signatures. This bill is clearly intended to deter and chill people from collecting signatures for any initiative on any topic — liberal and conservative.”
“For 110 years, the Secretary of State verifies a voter’s signature on initiative petitions – if the signature is valid, it counts. If it’s not, it gets rejected. SB 5382 changes that common sense policy and forces the Secretary of State to reject PERFECTLY VALID VOTER SIGNATURES — that’s crazy. It’s abundantly clear that you [Democrats] want to make it more difficult for your constituents to file initiatives, and that’s anti-democratic! This bill should die in committee and never again see the light of day.”
“This bill is taking our rights away that citizens use to guide the Legislative body. This is also a report card on how in touch Legislative body is with the people. It’s the people speaking and not special interest that seems to have a bigger voice than the people. The people need the power of voicing their mind and it’s your job to Listen.”