The people voted. The court erased it.

Nearly two million ballots were not enough.

By Everett Kane

Washington voters passed Initiative 2066 in November 2024. Nearly two million of them. The measure protected natural gas as an energy choice and pushed back on mandates that raise the cost of heat, kitchens, and small business. The Building Industry Association of Washington gathered more than half a million signatures in six weeks to put it on the ballot.

On Thursday, the Washington Supreme Court killed it 6–3.

The majority said I-2066 violated the state Constitution’s single-subject rule. Four distinct subjects, they wrote — gas access, air regulators, building codes, and a Decarbonization Act severability piece — packed into one initiative. They said they could not tell which parts voters would have passed alone, so the whole thing dies. No severing. No salvage. Final word under state law.

Justice Salvador Mungia dissented for thirty pages. The first power the people reserved, he wrote, was the initiative. Courts should not give that power lip service. When citizens disagree with the legislature, they get to restrict it — if they stay inside the Constitution.

The greens celebrated. Washington Conservation Action called it a win for a healthy, affordable future. The Sierra Club called the initiative logrolling. Seattles city attorney said a “slender statewide majority” had been “deceptively engineered.” That is elite talk for the voters lost.

Greg Lane of BIAW said the goal posts keep moving and the court will step in to protect government from the people. Anthony Anton of the Washington Hospitality Association said nearly two million voters understood what rising energy mandates do to a restaurant or a hotel. The underlying cost problem did not vanish with the opinion.

Single-subject rules exist for a reason. Logrolling is real. So is a judiciary that treats a statewide majority as an inconvenience whenever the product is fossil fuel. If the ballot title was dirty, say so and send it back clean. Do not teach voters that the safest energy vote is the one the court already likes.

Heat is not a seminar. Kitchens are not a press release. When a court voids two million votes on gas, the bill shows up as degrees and dollars. That is the consequence. Write another initiative if you must. Do not pretend the people never spoke.

Related

https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/the-court-didnt-rewrite-november-it-refused-to

https://capitolandcleats.com/blog/dallas-cheered-swing-seats-still-need-a-reason