June 11, 2010 - Volume 10, Number 11
Please do not sign Initiative 1107!
PLEASE DO NOT SIGN INITIATIVE 1107
I-1107 is Bad for Health Care!
Please do not sign Initiative 1107!
I-1107 would strip critical funding from Washington State’s health care, education, and senior services programs. It threatens our state’s economic recovery. It is heavily funded by the national beverage industry, and would repeal taxes on soda pop, candy, gum, and bottled water. The initiative would lead to further deep cuts to important state services, including the Basic Health and K-12 education programs. Now is our chance to stop this anti-health care, anti-education initiative before it makes it to the November 2010 ballot!
Signature gatherers will be out in force over the weekend. The I-1107 campaign has only three weeks to collect 300,000 signatures, and they are paying their signature gatherers an extraordinary amount of money per signature. By contrast, the taxes that will protect health care and education are very small – for example, two cents per bottle of water or can of soda.
What can you do to stop this initiative?
- Do not sign I-1107!
- Spread the word. Non-public hospitals may forward this message to your staff, boards, supporters, and networks and can post it on web pages and Facebook pages. Tell your supporters that this initiative would hurt your hospital and your community. Ask them to decline to sign.
- If you see a signature gatherer, stand next to him or her for five to ten minutes and encourage others not to sign the initiative as well. Simply say: ?Please don’t sign this initiative. It would hurt our state’s economic recovery and would take away badly needed money from health care and our schools.? Most people who sign ballot initiatives do not know what they will do and are unlikely to sign if someone tells them how devastating losing this funding would be.
- Report back when you encounter signature gatherers for I-1107. Please call or email 1-888-207-7307 or wa.declinetosign@gmail.com and let Decline to Sign organizers know where signature gatherers are in your area. Timely information about where they are collecting signatures is critical to the success of a Decline to Sign effort to stop the initiative from making the ballot.