Thousands of petition forms supporting Initiative 1029 should be declared invalid because they indicate that the initiative would be presented to the legislature, rather than on the general election ballot as registered with the Secretary of State's office, a coalition of caregiver organizations said today. The Community Care Coalition of Washington (CCCW) has sent Secretary of State Sam Reed a letter summarizing the legal and policy reasons the misleading petitions should not be accepted.

"If initiative forms can be rejected for something as minor as being the wrong size, then surely they should be invalidated for misleading voters as to how their signature will be used," said CCCW spokesperson Deb Murphy. "We believe that people understand what they are signing. There is no way to know how many people might not have signed the form had they known how the union intended to use their signature."

Initiative 1029 is sponsored by Local 775 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Ironically, last year an SEIU spokesman wrote that it is appropriate to reject initiative forms because they are the wrong size, lack the warning against signing multiple petitions, or if the sponsor fails to accurately print the title, summary or initiative text on the petition form.

"This initiative is not the product of a grass-roots citizen movement,"Murphy continued. "It is a self-serving proposal being pushed by a large and sophisticated labor union which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on paid signature gatherers. They should be held to the same standards that they have so vocally and strenuously promoted for everyone else."

"This was either a cynical attempt to mislead voters or a serious mistake on the part of SEIU. Even if it wasn't intentional, an error on something as basic as identifying which of the two initiative options is presented should give voters pause. Voters should consider what other mistakes are included in the initiative text," Murphy concluded.

CCCW members include Aging Services of Washington (formerly WAHSA), Developmental Disability Advocates, Home Care of Washington, Inc., Home Care Association of Washington, Washington Private Duty Association, and Washington State Residential Care Council. Collectively, they serve some 500,000 elderly and disabled citizens throughout Washington. It includes non-profit assisted living providers, agencies that deliver in-home care to the elderly and disabled, adult family home operators, and other primarily small businesses that deliver care to the elderly and disabled.

The coalition contends that I-1029 will make it more difficult for Washington families to get the care needed by their parents and loved ones, eliminate entry-level caregiver jobs when there is already a critical shortage, and waste millions of taxpayer dollars without improving care ??? all at a time when health care costs are already skyrocketing and the state faces a $2.5 billion budget shortfall.

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