Washington voters will decide three statewide initiatives on the November 3, 2026, general election ballot. All three were advanced by the Let’s Go Washington political committee, founded by Brian Heywood. Two are Initiatives to the Legislature that the legislature declined to enact, sending them to voters; the third is an Initiative to the People that qualified through signature gathering. Together they address parental authority in public schools, sex-based categories in school sports, and the state’s newly enacted high-earners income tax.¹
The parental-rights measure (IL26-001) would re-enact the original language of Initiative 2081 from 2024. It restores statutory rights for parents and guardians of public-school students to review instructional materials and student records, receive specific notifications, and opt children out of sexual-health education and related activities. It reverses 2025 legislative amendments that supporters say weakened those protections.²
The sports measure (IL26-638) requires school districts and voluntary nonprofit athletic organizations to prohibit biologically male students from competing in female categories. Students seeking to participate in female-designated activities must submit documentation from a healthcare provider verifying biological sex based on reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.³
Initiative 645 (IP26-645) would repeal the 9.9 percent tax on household income above $1 million that the legislature passed and the governor signed in 2026. The tax is scheduled to apply to income earned beginning in 2028, with first payments due in 2029. The initiative also prohibits state and local governments from imposing taxes on individual income or taxes measured by an individual’s income, while preserving certain tax-relief provisions enacted alongside the original tax.⁴
Let’s Go Washington presents all three as necessary corrections to legislative overreach. On the income-tax repeal, the group argues the “millionaires tax” is an unconstitutional experiment designed to pave the way for broader income taxation, accelerates capital flight, and targets individuals and pass-through businesses while leaving large corporations largely untouched. It emphasizes that the measure keeps family and small-business relief intact. On parental rights, the organization stresses that parents—not the government—should guide their children’s education and health decisions, and that voters already endorsed transparency through I-2081. On sports, Let’s Go Washington frames the measure as restoring fairness and Title IX protections for female athletes without banning anyone from participating in athletics.⁵
The Washington Policy Center, a free market think tank, has been especially critical of the income tax and the ballot language accompanying its repeal. Budget and tax analysts at the Center have described the Attorney General’s public investment impact disclosure as flawed because the tax does not begin collecting revenue until 2029 and lacks dedicated earmarks for K-12 education, higher education, or healthcare. The Center has long opposed state income taxes as a slippery slope that historically expands beyond high earners and harms Washington’s economic competitiveness. On education, Center researchers have supported restoring robust parental rights, citing research linking informed parental involvement to better student outcomes and noting that similar laws exist in many other states.⁶
The Freedom Foundation, which focuses on free markets, limited government, and reducing the political influence of public-sector unions, aligns philosophically with opposition to the new income tax and support for measures that limit government intrusion into family decision-making. While its most visible work centers on helping public employees opt out of union membership and dues, the organization’s core mission of restraining government growth and protecting individual choice is consistent with backing the tax repeal and the parental-rights restoration. Public-sector unions have been major financial backers of campaigns opposing the initiatives, a dynamic the Foundation routinely highlights.⁷
These three measures give Washington voters a direct voice on taxation, the balance of authority between parents and schools, and fairness in athletics. Campaigns on both sides will intensify through the fall as the arguments over revenue, rights, and biological reality play out.
Footnotes
¹ Ballotpedia. (2026). Washington 2026 ballot measures. https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_2026_ballot_measures
² Ballotpedia. (2026). Washington Parental Right to Review Education Materials, Receive Notifications, and opt Out of Sexual-Health Education Initiative (2026). https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_Parental_Right_to_Review_Education_Materials,_Receive_Notifications,_and_Opt_Out_of_Sexual-Health_Education_Initiative_(2026)
³ Ballotpedia. (2026). Washington Sex Verification Requirements for Female School Sports Initiative (2026). https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_Sex_Verification_Requirements_for_Female_School_Sports_Initiative_(2026)
⁴ Ballotpedia. (2026). Washington Repeal Tax on Household Income Over $1 Million and Prohibit State and Local Taxes on Income Initiative (2026). https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_Repeal_Tax_on_Household_Income_Over_$1_Million_and_Prohibit_State_and_Local_Taxes_on_Income_Initiative_(2026)
⁵ Let’s Go Washington. (2026). The initiatives 2026. https://letsgowashington.com/
⁶ Washington Policy Center. (n.d.). Home. https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/
⁷ Freedom Foundation. (n.d.). About Freedom Foundation. https://www.freedomfoundation.com/about-freedom-foundation/
