Initiative 511, which requires 241,153 signatures by December 30, has hit the streets asking voters to tax the ultra-wealthy, thereby saving eduction funding and state health care programs. Education activist Amy Hagopian sent an email to supporters yesterday calling it an "audacious attempt" to gather so many signatures for an "emergency" initiative.

If I-511 were to qualify for the ballot and receive enough votes in 2012, it would "impose a 10% tax on adjusted gross income above one million dollars received by Washington residents and certain nonresidents," according to a summary by the state attorney general's office. The revenue would be divided as follows: "One third of the revenue from the tax would be devoted to K-12 education, one third to higher education, and one third to a state-funded health care plan."

Good for them, taking action while the legislature continually fumbles. Hagopian notes the measure "launches the idea and the strategy." Of course, in 2010 voters rejected an income-tax measure with the financial backing of local billionaire greedballs Steve Ballmer, Jeff Bezos, and Paul Allen.

Here's the full petition.