A political action committee backing Republicans is targeting Washington state’s new carbon pricing system that began operating at the beginning of this year.

Let's Go Washington is behind six ballot measures that go after some Washington state laws and programs, including the cap-and-invest system, which requires businesses to buy credits from the state for every ton of greenhouse gas they produce.

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Washington state reported the highest gas prices in the nation in June and July, surpassing California with prices rising to $4.98 a gallon, per auto club AAA data.

The cap-and-invest program closely resembles those of California, whose system began in 2013 and aims to lower emissions by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Washington state is taking on an even more aggressive goal, hoping to reduce emissions to 95% below 1990 levels by 2050.

The bill giving Washington state a comprehensive carbon pricing plan, the Climate Commitment Act, passed in 2021, making it the second state in the nation to have such a system.

Widely opposed by Republicans, members were successful in adding an amendment to the act that required the state Department of Ecology to create a yearly report on climate spending.

"I tried to make sure that we put something in so that we know our policies are working or not,” GOP state Rep. Mary Dye told Crosscut.

Despite Republican lawmakers' negotiations for more transparency, Let's Go Washington is pushing ahead with repealing the carbon-cap-and-invest law altogether.

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If enacted, the "stop the hidden gas tax" initiative would prevent “all state agencies, counties, and cities from implementing any type of carbon tax credit trading.”

The PAC is funded by Brian Heywood, a Kirkland businessman and Republican investor, and previously failed to gather enough signatures to bring eleven initiatives to the 2023 Washington state legislature despite pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the measures.