Referendum 88

State Measures - Referendum Measure No. 88

The legislature passed Initiative Measure No. 1000 concerning affirmative action and remedying discrimination, and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this act. 

Measure Text

The legislature passed Initiative Measure No. 1000 concerning affirmative action and remedying discrimination, and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this act. Initiative 1000 would allow the state to remedy discrimination for certain groups and to implement affirmative action, without the use of quotas or preferential treatment (as defined), in public education, employment, and contracting. 

Should Initiative 1000 be: 

• Approved 

• Rejected 

Links

https://voter.votewa.gov/GenericVoterGuide.aspx?e=566&c=99#/measure/424

• Campaign Contributions

• Full Text

Ok, its confusion time again. Back in 1998 our good friend Tim Eyman pushed – and passed – I 200, which banned affirmative action in Washington.  Last year I-1000 was passed by voters. This initiative allowed the state to consider a person’s age, gender, race, etc in order to take affirmative action to include all different kinds of people. In effect, it reversed I-200. I’m not exactly clear on next steps, but it appears that some members of the Chinese community in Seattle are convinced that this somehow discriminates against them, and they have filed Referendum 88 to try to reverse I-1000. See why I’m confused?

A little help from Crosscut: An approve vote supports allowing Initiative 1000 to go into effect, thereby expressly allowing the state to implement affirmative action policies (without the use of preferential treatment or quotas as defined in the initiative) in public employment, education, and contracting.

A reject vote supports blocking I-1000 from going into effect, thereby restricting the state from implementing certain affirmative action policies in public employment, education, and contracting.

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I have looked into this very carefully, even reading the text of the law which was amended. I think I’ve got this right. As far as I can tell a YES on R-88 supports affirmative action. 

I’ll be voting APPROVED on R-88