OLYMPIA – Rep. April Berg (D-Mill Creek), Chair of the House Finance Committee, released the following statement regarding manipulation of the online system for public comment, specifically in relation to SB 6346, The Millionaire’s Tax:
“Public comments and feedback to proposed policy is a critical aspect of our work in the Legislature. It allows us to more easily hear from constituents who may not be able to participate in the legislative process in-person. It’s become clear, however, that the system is easy to manipulate. Following reports of impersonation from concerned stakeholders who had their information misused to sign in against SB 6346, initial investigation into the committee sign in reports have shown potentially tens of thousands of instances of fraudulent or duplicate data. Investigations into the full extent of the manipulation are ongoing through the Chief Clerk’s Office, as are plans to make system improvements to prevent this sort of abuse in the future. In addition, the Washington State Attorney General’s Office has been informed of the situation and alerted to the need for possible investigation.
To those who participated in the manipulation of the public comment system, I want to be clear: your efforts have not benefited your cause and have in fact done damage to the democratic process and called into question every sign in on this bill.”