Equal Opportunity For All. We oppose the follow bills that promote racial quota and preferential treatment.
I-1000 – Repeal I-200
HB 1783 & SB 5776
Introduced by Rep. Mia Gregerson in 2019, HB 1783 would create Washington state office of equity; add a new chapter to Title 43 RCW; create a new section; provide an effective date; and declare an emergency.
An emergency clause will make a Referendum to overturn HB 1783 impossible.
HB 1783 passed House State Government & Tribal Relations committee during the 2019 legislative session, was in the hand of the House Rules committee.
HB 1783’s Senate Companion bill is SB 5776.
The defeat of I-1000/R-88 made passing HB 1783 critical for the legislature to circumvent voters’ will. I-1000/R-88 would created a Governor’s Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and voters rejected this idea. Voters in 34 out of 39 counties, and 30 out of 49 Legislative Districts voted to reject I-1000/R-88. In many counties, voters rejected I-1000/R-88 by large margins. Yet, legislators who voted to deny voters’ right to vote on I-1000 wanted to violate voters’ will again by passing HB 1783.
The Office of Equity Task Force was created in August, 2019, with one single purpose – “to develop a proposal for the creation of a state office of equity.”
At the Task Force’s November meeting, Rep. Gregerson “said she and other legislators have been working on the draft language for House Bill 1783 (on file) and they would like this group’s input. ” RaShelle Davis from the Office of the Governor “asked the Task Force to work on further recommendations related to: the Office of Equity’s community advisory board; and the Office of Equity’s oversight and compliance functions, considering Initiative 1000 can no longer be implemented.”
Voters voted to affirm the principle of Equality for All in 1998. Voters re-affirmed the principle of Equality for All this year. And voters REJECTED the idea of having an unaccountable bureaucracy to play favoritism based on race. Let’s make sure elected officials get the message and do not pass HB 1783.