LT: I WILL KNOW HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN GOVERNMENT, SO THAT I CAN… Washington State Government

Warm-up Divide a page into 3 sections. Your table group’s job is to brainstorm issues that you would change if you could. Box 1 – list issues that you want to see change at McKnight. Box 2 – list issues that the city of Renton should try to work on and change. Box 3 – list issues that you see in the state of Washington. (Examples: Traffic is too congested, the class sizes are too large, guns are too prevalent, etc)

Review… What is an initiative? What is a referendum?

The process of initiatives and referendums is one of the biggest modern changes in our state governments; not every state allows its citizens to have this kind of power to enact change. However, it is particularly prevalent in the Westerns states (like Washington!).

Intriguing Initiatives in Washington Your goal: You will learn about recent controversial initiatives in Washington and reflect on whether you support each initiative.

Intriguing Initiatives in Washington On the ‘Review’ page, for each initiative, write down: 1) The name of the initiative 2) A brief description of what it changed in WA 3) Your take: Do you support this initiative and agree with what it established? Explain why or why not in at least 2 sentences.

Initiative 522 Washington state initiative 522 would have required foods containing genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled. The initiative did not pass when voters voted. In 2013, a slight majority of Washingtonians voted against 522. Had it passed, Initiative 522 would have made Washington the first in the nation to require such labeling. Watch:

Counter Arguments to 522: Food industry ads claimed that the initiative would raise food prices. Labels would mislead consumers into thinking that products that contain genetically engineered ingredients are "somehow different, unsafe or unhealthy," said Brian Kennedy of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. Genetically engineered crops have a gene from another plant inserted into them to give them some ability they didn't have before. A huge proportion of commodity crops grown by U.S. farmers are genetically engineered: in 2013, 93% of the nation’s soybeans, 90% of the cotton and 90% of the feed corn for animals, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Initiative 502 In 2012, Washington voters passed Initiative 502 to legalize owning small amounts of marijuana (for adults). This goes against the federal US government’s law and policy to treat owning any amount of marijuana as a crime. But why was Washington the first state to pass this law? One supporter of the initiative said that, “the answer is probably because the character of Washington is very pragmatic: We have a low tolerance for policies that create more trouble than they’re worth,” (Alison Holcomb, an attorney who led the I-502 campaign).

Initiative 1240 In 2012, Washington approved an initiative to create charter schools in our state. Charter schools are public schools that are run independently from other public. These schools are controversial because student learning is not measured by standardized tests the way it is in most public schools. Also, charter schools often use a lottery system to decide which students to admit to their schools. This results in a lot of American kids/teens who want to go to a better school and work hard but are not given the opportunity.

Washington Referendum 74 Referendum 74 was a Washington state referendum that sought to approve the February 2012 bill that legalized same-sex marriage in the state of Washington. It had started with a collection of signatures in order to get on the ballot. Voters passed it.