Leaders of the I-1114 petition drive announced today that the efforts to qualify the initiative had fallen short of the 320,000 signatures needed to send it to the Legislature.

"We processed over 8 thousand pieces of mail. Some with just one petition and one signature, and some with 50 to 60 sheets full (over 1000 signatures)", said former state representative Cary Condotta, one of the co-founders of the Restore Washington group that spearheaded the petition drive.

Citizens ability to participate in their government processes have been greatly limited during the current pandemic, and likely hindered efforts to collect sufficient signatures. A total count of signatures gathered for I-1114 was not yet available.

The good news is a similar bill to I-1114 was introduced in the Washington State Senate by a Democrat and a Republican. Perhaps the bi-partisan effort by these legislators will ensure the bill at least gets a hearing, if not passage, in the Legislature.

Restore Washington is now looking to present an initiative to reduce property taxes, which have been significantly increased in recent years. This would, by extension, also put some limits on ever-increasing state government spending.

I-1114, called the Emergency Powers Act, would have acted to limit currently unchecked executive powers and restore our system of checks and balances. I-1114 would have limited emergency Proclamations issued by the governor to no longer than 14 days unless extended by a vote of the Legislature. Further, the Legislature would be required to vote as a body on any extensions of such emergency declarations.