A sourced look at how Washington's 12th District representative votes, which political networks he enters, and what those choices reveal about his judgment.
Washington House District 12, Position 1 / Prefers Republican Party
Verdicts, court-awarded fees, an employment-arbitration award, and settlements involving conduct during Burnett's years as sheriff add up to more than $3.58 million.
The County risk pool paid $250,000 to settle Shepard's suit alleging religious discrimination, harassment, and retaliation from 2016 through 2022 after he left Grace City Church.Official settlement statement / Lawsuit allegations
Burnett fired Sgt. Marcus "Mike" Harris in 2015. An arbitrator found the termination lacked just cause and ordered Harris reinstated; local reporting placed the employment award at $425,000. Local report, page A2 / Federal court order
Tyler's federal suit alleged harassment, retaliation, and misconduct by Burnett's administration. The county paid $1.5 million to settle the still-untried claims. Sheriff's Office announcement / Case details
Burnett suspended Tyler in 2018 and fired her in 2019. Her union challenged that decision, and the county agreed to pay five years of wages, totaling $455,000, to resolve the dispute. Settlement reporting
Burnett did not make Tyler's original 2010 firing. But a jury found that retaliation continued after her 2013 reinstatement, during Burnett's administration. Damages and fees totaled $955,159.45. Court of Appeals opinion / Award breakdown
How the total is calculated: $506,500 in Tyler damages + $448,659.45 in court-awarded fees and costs + $455,000 in Tyler's employment settlement + $1.5 million in Tyler's federal settlement + the reported $425,000 Harris award + $250,000 in the Shepard settlement = $3,585,159.45. This is an accounting of public outcomes, not a claim that every allegation was proven or that every dollar was attributed by a court solely to Burnett. Settlements resolve disputed claims without a verdict and generally do not establish liability.
This is your tax money paying the bill for Burnett's poor decisions.
These are selected consequential votes and affirmative legislative actions, not a complete history. Final-passage votes, amendment votes, and sponsorships are labeled separately. Burnett's clearest affirmative ideological positions appear in failed amendments and bills he sponsored or co-sponsored, which are included below.
Burnett repeatedly presents reduced costs and household affordability as central goals, yet he has voted against enacted rent stabilization, medical-debt credit protections, paid-leave job protections, and a tax on income above a $1 million deduction. Read Burnett's stated priorities.
Showing all selected actions
The enacted law applies a 9.9% tax to Washington taxable income after an inflation-indexed $1 million standard deduction, beginning with tax year 2028. Revenue supports public defense and specified tax relief.
Burnett's stated rationale: He argues the tax is unconstitutional, could later reach lower incomes, and would make the state less affordable for families and small businesses.
The law limits most annual rent increases for existing tenants to 7% plus inflation or 10%, whichever is lower, and generally caps manufactured-home increases at 5%.
The policy dispute: Supporters emphasized predictability and protection from sudden spikes. Opponents argued caps can discourage rental investment and reduce future supply.
The law bars providers and collectors from reporting medical debt to consumer credit agencies. A debt reported in violation of the law becomes void and unenforceable.
Why it reaches beyond a hospital bill: Credit reports can affect access to housing, auto loans, employment, and the interest rates a household pays.
The law expanded job protection and continued health-coverage protections for qualifying workers using the state's Paid Family and Medical Leave program, while adding grants for some small employers.
The tradeoff: Workers gain greater job security during serious family or medical events; employers take on broader protection and notice requirements.
The law removed language from Washington's model living-will form that automatically suspended the directive during pregnancy. It did not require a patient to choose withdrawal of care.
What the vote addressed: Whether pregnancy should automatically override the wishes an adult previously placed in an advance directive.
The enacted law made it state policy that communicable-disease responses use the best available science and protected the ability of public-health officials to promote evidence-based measures, including vaccination.
Explicit limit: The law stated that it created no new vaccination requirement and granted no new authority to impose one.
The law clarified Washington's authority to preserve insurance coverage and public-health access for evidence-based preventive services, including vaccines, as federal recommendations change.
Why it mattered in 2026: The bill was designed to let state standards also consider recommendations from established medical organizations, rather than rely on a single federal body.
Burnett opposed two enacted bills: one broadened distribution of the state's abortion and miscarriage-medication stockpile; the other created grants for direct abortion care funded by assessments on certain health carriers.
Important distinction: One bill concerned an existing medication stockpile. The other created a new grant program and insurer assessment. They are separate policy choices.
Burnett proposed requiring public schools to give parents and legal guardians at least monthly opportunities during evening and weekend hours to examine classroom curricula, textbooks, instructional materials, and supplemental materials.
What the proposal did: It expanded when parents could inspect existing materials; it did not change what schools could teach. The amendment was not adopted.
Burnett proposed barring an incarcerated person from asserting a change of gender identity more than once in six months for jail housing and search decisions. The amendment was not adopted.
Important distinction: This is documented sponsorship of Burnett's own amendment, not a recorded roll-call yes. He separately voted no on final passage of the underlying bill governing searches of transgender and intersex people in local jails.
HB 1699 would have allowed school districts and athletic associations to bar students the bill describes as "biologically male" from girls' athletic competitions. A dispute over a student's sex could trigger health-provider verification based on reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or testosterone levels.
What the record establishes: Burnett placed his name on the bill as a co-sponsor. It remained in the House Education Committee and never received a final-passage vote.
HB 1585 would have required documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration. It also directed county auditors to cancel an existing registration 14 days before the 2025 general election if a voter without proof through the Department of Licensing did not appear and provide specified documents.
What the record establishes: This is evidence of Burnett's support for a restrictive election-administration proposal, not proof that he endorsed any particular false claim about noncitizen voting. The bill remained in committee.
Across his church membership, campaign language, public appearances, endorsements, voting record, and legislation, Burnett repeatedly aligns himself with far-right movements and their priorities.
Longtime Grace City member. ReAwaken America attendee. Interview guest of Matt Shea. See the church record.
Used "The Storm" campaign language, cited 2000 Mules, and would not initially affirm Biden's lawful election. See the documented record.
Attended Richard Mack speeches, endorsed Bob Songer, and proposed limits on state oversight of elected sheriffs. See his responses.
Grace City is a highly controversial church openly advancing Christian-nationalist political visions in which civil government is expected to operate under biblical authority. Burnett says he recently left Grace City because he was "disappointed in some things" and for personal reasons. His separation became public immediately after an August primary in which Grace City pastor Adam James finished third amid intense scrutiny of the church's political activity. The timing has fueled speculation that Burnett is only creating political distance.
A federal complaint, reported by The Spokesman-Review, said the Sheriff's Office promoted a 12-week Grace City marriage program and produced a video in which Burnett and other officers appeared in uniform discussing the church retreat. Source
The Chelan County Sheriff's Office, then led by Burnett, held a town hall on new policing laws at Grace City Church. Source
A local election profile identified Burnett as a Grace City member. He spoke to students at the church's Vector Academy, and later confirmed that Sheriff's Office helmets and a padded training suit were used at Grace City's Project ManCard event. Candidate profile / Vector Academy / Equipment confirmation
In March, Pastor Josh McPherson publicly referred to Burnett as the first "good man" associated with Grace City already serving in the Legislature while announcing Adam James's campaign for the district's other House seat. March report / Departure report
Burnett has publicly denied being an "anti-vaxxer.", yet the documented record shows a recurring pattern: opposing a COVID-19 vaccination requirement, opposing protections for science-based public-health action, and opposing legislation designed to preserve optional, no-cost vaccine access.
Burnett put pending SRO contracts with Cascade, Cashmere, Chelan, and Manson on hold because Washington's school-worker COVID-19 vaccination rule applied to on-site contractors. Sheriff's release / Wenatchee World report / Local superintendent's response
The enacted law directed state and local communicable-disease responses to use the best available science and protected officials' ability to promote evidence-based measures, including vaccines. It explicitly created no new vaccine requirement and no new power to impose one. Burnett voted no. Enacted law / House roll call
The enacted law authorized Washington's Department of Health to issue evidence-based immunization guidance and maintained insurance and state vaccine-program pathways if federal recommendations changed. It expressly imposed no new immunization requirement. Burnett voted no. Enacted law / Burnett's roll calls
Evidence boundary: This record supports describing a pattern of anti-vaccine politics, particularly opposition to mandates and state vaccine infrastructure. It does not establish that Burnett rejects every vaccine, disputes vaccine efficacy, or opposes routine childhood vaccination.
Burnett has directly endorsed a model that would move state education dollars into private schools, religious education, and homeschooling, while framing that choice as an escape from government ideology.
Burnett told the conservative AFA Action voter guide that he "strongly agree[d]" state education dollars should follow students into private, or homeschool programs. His explanation specifically cited faith and religion and said the approach would free families from "Big Government Agendas."Read his answers
In the same questionnaire, Burnett strongly agreed with language grouping "gender ideology" with grooming and abuse and strongly emphasized parental authority. In 2025 he voted against ESHB 1296, which established a statement of public-school student rights and expanded protected classes to expressly include gender identity and gender expression. Final bill report / Burnett's roll calls
Burnett was publicly a Grace City member for years. Grace City launched Garden City Academy with an explicit mission to raise children "in the fear of God." Pastor Josh McPherson has called public schools "government schools" and places of indoctrination; the church's own sermon transcript portrays public-school curricula as ideological agendas and as an example of evil. Grace City school announcement / Grace City transcript / Local reporting
The tile above uses "defunding" as an argument about redirecting finite public resources. The documented record does not show Burnett calling for public schools to be eliminated or funded at zero, but a desire to increase funding of religious schools at taxpayers expense.
The record shows repeated contact with QAnon-coded language, election-conspiracy events, prominent movement figures, and discredited claims about the 2020 election.
Burnett used both phrases in his 2022 sheriff campaign. When NCW Life reporter Jefferson Robbins noted their association with QAnon, Burnett denied trying to appeal to its followers, and said his storm metaphor referred to fentanyl, crime, and changes to Washington policing law. Full interview, 27:48 / Interview excerpts
Burnett promotes The Innocent, founded by former O.U.R. chief officer Nate Lewis, who is repeatedly associated with Qanon movements. Burnett recently sat for an interview with Lewis, published on their social media. O.U.R. filing
Burnett attended the September 2022 ReAwaken America stop in Post Falls, Idaho. Burnett said he was interested in hearing retired Gen. Michael Flynn. AP and Frontline documented Flynn's ReAwaken movement as Christian nationalist and as attracting election deniers, conspiracy theorists, and extremists. Local report / AP/Frontline investigation
Burnett sat for a Patriot Radio interview with former state representative Matt Shea. A House-commissioned investigation had concluded that Shea participated in an act of domestic terrorism, condoned political intimidation, and promoted theocratic and militia organizing. Official House investigation / Burnett interview, 57:42
Asked directly whether Joe Biden was lawfully elected, Burnett initially said it did not matter what he believed. He cited 2000 Mules (a conspiracy documentary), said there were "serious integrity issues," and raised the possibility of voting machines being hacked.Full interview, 54:54 / AP on the film's claims
Burnett has repeatedly entered controversial political or religious spaces, then answered scrutiny with a narrow denial, limited explanation, or partial separation. Here is what he said.
Burnett attended speeches by CSPOA founder Richard Mack. When questioned, he called the issue "kind of a fine line" and said he did not agree with the movement's "total philosophy." He nevertheless endorsed movement member Bob Songer who believes his local authority outranks state and federal laws, allowing him to selectively choose which laws and regulations to enforce. Source
(Mack founded CSPOA and was an early Oath Keepers board member. InvestigateWest identifies CSPOA as a far-right, anti-government group; AP documents its claim that sheriffs may refuse laws they consider unjust. The Oath Keepers' founder and another leader were convicted of seditious conspiracy for January 6. AP / Justice Department)
Burnett attended the ReAwaken America tour and gave a live interview to former state representative Matt Shea. When questioned, Burnett said he knew only vaguely of Shea's background and cared more about delivering his message than who interviewed him. Source
Burnett was a longtime member of Grace City Church, which openly advances a Christian-nationalist political program. Its own teaching says a righteous government should reflect God's image, argues that American government cannot work in a secular culture, and calls Christians who distrust government to seek positions of political power. That is more than private religious belief: it is an organized effort to shape civil government around the church's interpretation of biblical authority. Grace City's series / Church study guide / Local reporting
(AP and Frontline documented ReAwaken as a Christian-nationalist tour featuring election deniers and conspiracy theorists. A Washington House investigation concluded that Shea participated in an act of domestic terrorism; that was an investigative finding, not a criminal conviction. AP/Frontline / Official investigation)
Burnett's 2022 campaign repeatedly used "The Coming Storm" and "The Storm Is Coming." When a reporter noted the phrases' QAnon association, Burnett called the suggestion "laughable" and said they referred to fentanyl, crime, and Washington policing laws. He also promotes The Innocent, whose founder Nate Lewis previously served as O.U.R.'s chief development officer. O.U.R. was criticized for poorly documented rescue claims and narratives that overlapped with QAnon trafficking themes. Interview, 27:48
(Burnett directly denied appealing to QAnon followers but did not explain his campaign's repeated use of language closely associated with the movement. The O.U.R. connection establishes organizational lineage and adjacency, not proof that The Innocent or Burnett formally endorses QAnon. O.U.R. filing / Reporting)
In his 2026 voter-guide questionnaire, Burnett wrote that he "traveled to Israel ... with 250 state legislators." That delegation was organized and paid for by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Four other Washington legislators reported the trip as a gift worth $5,000 to $6,500. Burnett's financial-affairs statement for 2025 reports no gifts at all.
Asked whether the U.S. relationship with Israel is important, Burnett answered: "I traveled to Israel in September, 2026 [sic] with 250 state legislators." The only such delegation was 50 States One Israel, September 14-18, 2025, which the Israeli government hosted for about 250 state legislators, five from each state. The questionnaire was written for the August 2026 primary, before September 2026, so the year he gave is an error. His questionnaire / The delegation
The Consulate General of Israel's invitation to legislators says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided round-trip airfare from New York to Tel Aviv, including domestic flights to New York, plus in-country transportation, accommodation, meals, and guided programming. Consulate letter (Oregon Legislature copy)
The Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest published a group photograph of its regional delegation at the Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel, with "Washington" displayed on the screen behind them. Burnett appears in the back row. Rep. David Hackney, who reported the trip as a $6,500 gift, is in the same photograph. Consulate's photograph
Rep. Drew Stokesbary ($6,500, State of Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Rep. Mari Leavitt ($6,500, Consulate General of Israel), Rep. Chris Corry ($5,000), and Rep. David Hackney ($6,500, Israel Consul General) each reported it on their 2025 statements. Stokesbary / Leavitt / Corry / Hackney / The Stranger
State ethics law allows legislators to accept reasonable travel expenses for educational programs sponsored by a government. PDC instructions for the financial-affairs statement nonetheless require reporting the full value of transportation, meals, lodging, and other items provided in connection with such an event. RCW 42.52.150 / PDC gift and travel instructions
Burnett was prime sponsor of House Resolution 4709, "Recognizing the Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest," the office that ran the delegation and that Reps. Leavitt and Hackney named as the source of their gift. The House adopted it on March 2, 2026. Burnett filed his "no gifts" statement on March 20. HR 4709
Burnett took that position one page after describing his participation in a legislative study trip that a foreign government funded. His questionnaire
Asked why the U.S. relationship with Israel is important, Burnett gave no strategic, security, or humanitarian reason. He rejected "replacement theology" and quoted Genesis 12:3: "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse." Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari has warned about the same danger in Israel's own messianic right. When policy rests on divine promise, the human cost stops being the test. His questionnaire / Harari in Haaretz
Burnett grounds his Israel policy in scripture. He has said nothing on record about biblical prophecy or the war with Iran, which he mentions only as the reason a planned April 2026 trip was cancelled. We are not claiming he holds end-times beliefs. Voters deserve to know whether they shape his view of a war, and he should say. His questionnaire
In 2022 the PDC closed a complaint against Burnett's sheriff campaign with a written warning after finding evidence of a minor violation. The complaint alleged he failed to disclose expenditures or in-kind contributions and left sponsor identification off political advertising. A second case, opened in 2024, alleges he failed to file his 2022 campaign reports on time and accurately. It remains under investigation. That is an allegation, not a finding. Case 112076 / Case 151190
Evidence boundary: We are not claiming the PDC has found a violation; only the PDC can make that finding. If Burnett paid his own way, his statement could be accurate, but no public record shows that he did. That would have meant turning down a funded slot that was available to him, on a trip where the colleague pictured with him accepted the same package and reported it. A single public answer from him would settle the question.
Burnett has repeatedly been criticized through the years for blocking the public from his online campaigns. Critical questions disappear, members of the public become blocked, and in October 2022, local reporter Dominick Bonny even wrote that Burnett's sheriff campaign did not answer his emails and had "a bad habit of deleting my comments with questions on their Facebook page." Read the report
In August 2026, this site's author had the same experience. After posting a question on a campaign advertisement (which was not inappropriate) Burnett's campaign immediately blocked the user outright. There is a long history of this behavior by Brian Burnett's campaigns.
It should be deeply concerning to all of us that our state representative, whether or not we agree with his positions, does not want to hear from anyone who disagrees with him.
Claims and factual details on this page are drawn from Washington State and local-government records, legislative materials, court documents, Burnett's own statements, organizational primary sources, and named local or national reporting. Sources are cited alongside the claims they support and collected below in full for review.