Washington State Government
LT: I WILL KNOW HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN
GOVERNMENT, SO THAT I CAN…
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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPbwm3-shu8
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFN0nf6Hqk0
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Evs1_SqyI