Initiative Measure No. 1593,

filed January 17, 2018

TAXPAYER PROTECTION ACT
AN ACT Relating to the collection or commingling of funds usedfor political purposes; adding a new section to chapter 42.17A RCW;
and creating new sections.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:NEW SECTION.

Sec. 1.

A new section is added to chapter 42.17A

RCW to read as follows:(1)

To guard against an employee being coerced by theiremployer or others to support a political purpose that the employee
may personally oppose, an employer is prohibited from deducting
money from an employee’s paycheck and using all or any portion ofsuch deducted money for a political purpose.
(a) The prohibition in this section does not apply to deducting
money for employee pensions, savings, health plans or charitable
contributions as long as the recipient of the employee’s money does
not use any portion of those moneys for a political purpose orcommingle such monies with funds used for a political purpose.
(b) After receiving their pay, an employee is free, subject toexisting campaign finance limitations, to voluntarily contribute any
portion of their take-home pay to any political purpose they choose
to support.

(2)Commingling political funds with funds collected by meansof a public resource is prohibited.
(3)

Public resources are prohibited from being used to collector help collect money for a political purpose.
(4) The provisions of this section shall be overseen by and be
subject to the policies, procedures, and penalties of the Washington
state Public Disclosure Commission and the office of the Attorney
General.
(5) This section does not apply to resources used or spent
preparing, printing, or distributing an official voters’ pamphlet orconducting an election.
(6) For purposes of this section:(a) “Political purpose” means money or any other resource,including in-kind contributions, pass-through contributions, andindependent expenditures that are contributed to or expended for thebenefit of a candidate, political committee, committee for oragainst a ballot measure including any effort to collect signatures
to place a measure on the ballot, or any effort to legally challenge
or defend a measure including any ballot title challenge, or any
effort to solicit signatures for a measure or to discourage citizens
from signing a petition.

The term “political purpose” does notinclude lobbying or any other activity not specifically listed inthis subsection (6)(a).
(b) “Public resource” means public money and public employee
time on the job during working hours, but does not include the useof the United States Postal Service, the use of public buildings orother public spaces.

A “resource” is deemed to have been used, even

if the public entity is reimbursed for the cost of using orproviding the public resource; and(c) “Entity” means individuals, corporations, firms,partnerships, limited liability companies, joint stock companies,unions, organizations, associations, committees and other suchgroups.

2(8) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting theright of any person or entity to donate to political causes,
provided that they do so without the use of a public resource.
(9) Nothing in this act shall be construed as limiting theright of any person or entity to donate to a charity by means of apayroll deduction.
(10) If a person or entity violates this section and uses, fora political purpose, any money collected for it by means of a publicresource, or if a person or entity commingles political funds withfunds collected wholly or in part by means of a public resource, theperson or entity is subject to penalties imposed by the Washington
state Public Disclosure Commission or office of the Attorney Generaland, thereafter, no public employer or government entity may collectmoney for any purpose for that person or entity.
(11) This act supersedes any preexisting law, rule, policy, orordinance with which it conflicts.
(12) If any phrase, clause, or part of this section isinvalidated by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainingphrases, clauses, and parts shall remain in full force and effect.
This section shall not be applied so as to violate the right to freespeech, freedom of association, or any other right guaranteed under
the United States Constitution, but shall be effective in all
circumstances and for all individuals and groups for which noviolation or infringement has been found.
NEW SECTION.

Sec. 2.

The provisions of this act are to beliberally construed to effectuate the intent, policies, and purposesof this act.
NEW SECTION.
application

toanySec. 3.
personIf any provision of this act or its
orcircumstanceisheldinvalid,

theremainder of the act or the application of the provision to otherpersons or circumstances is not affected.
NEWSECTION.

Sec.

4.

This

Protection Act.”3

actiscalled

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