Government unions in Washington are pushing legislation designed to prevent the Freedom Foundation from communicating with public employees about their right to refrain from or resign their union membership.

In preparation for the Janus v. AFSCME decision, Freedom Foundation requested lists of public employees from government agencies, including birth dates to help verify people. The unions tied up these requests in state court for several years, but in October 2019 the Washington Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that birth dates were included in the Public Records Act and could be released to the Freedom Foundation.

Since then, government unions and their political friends have waged a public relations and legislative campaign to scare the public about identity theft—even passing legislation effectively overturning the court decision and bar birth dates from public records requests. House Bill 1888 is their key weapon this session, but Freedom Foundation has a number of allies in this legislative fight, including the media.

Numerous newspapers across the state have voiced opposition to HB 1888, including the Seattle Times and The Spokesman-Review. Several editorials have appeared weekly since session began, and each one cites the Freedom Foundation as the impetus behind the legislation.

Freedom Foundation is proud to have the unions up in arms over this court victory, but fighting House Bill 1888 remains Freedom Foundation’s number one legislative priority this session.