By Julie Barrett, Founder, Conservative Ladies of Washington
It’s no secret that Washington politicians are constantly trying to keep up with the progressive socialist policies of Gavin Newsom and his California buddies. Jay Inslee and the Washington Democrats are always chomping at the bit to pass the next piece of legislation to bring us one step closer to socialism.
It’s only the first week of the 2023 legislative session and we’ve already got a hearing for the radical left democrats’ “Basic Income Pilot Program”, HB 1045.
HB-1045 would create a pilot program for leftist democrats to introduce a universal income to Washington state, following the lead of California. This bill asserts that climate change, disease and quarantines will become the “new normal”, causing economic hardship and requiring the state to respond by providing financial income to Washington residents. Who will pay for this? We will.
This bill is loaded with really terrible and consequential language. The opening paragraph:
“Corporate profits increased by over 500 percent from 2000 to 2021 while everyday Washington residents filed more unemployment claims than ever with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.“
I’m old enough to remember when Jay Inslee’s emergency powers, which reached almost 1,000 days, forced businesses to close and people to become unemployed all the while, everyone was sitting at home ordering from Amazon, Walmart, Target and other huge corporations.
They created the crisis. And now hard-working taxpayers will be on the hook to fix it.
It’s also not surprising that they are blaming all the problems on climate change. Because of climate change disease will spread faster and we will have more lockdowns, quarantines that will require big government to step in and fill the economic gap.
This bill also explicitly states that there are to be “no requirements or restrictions” for participants, indicating that non-citizens, criminals, homeless and other groups would be able to receive these financial benefits.
As we look at other bills filed this year, such as the bipartisan emergency powers reform bill, SB-5063, which allows the governor to suspend the state constitution in a state of emergency, it makes a bill like this even more troubling.
Stay alert and speak up. It’s not just the democrats who are sponsoring terrible legislation – the Republican side needs to be watched as well.
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