In February 2021, Eyman was convicted of violations of campaign finance law and fined $2.6 million, and barred from "managing, controlling, negotiating, or directing financial transactions" for any kind of political committee.

[5][6] In April 2021, he was ordered to pay an additional $2.9 million to reimburse the Washington State Attorney General's legal costs[7] in pursuing civil penalties against him.

[9] After graduating from WSU, Eyman began a mail order business out of his home selling engraved wristwatches to members of Greek Letter Organizations.

[11] In an emergency session, Governor Mike Lowry and the legislature authorized King County to levy stadium bond taxes, which ended up being placed on restaurants and car rentals.

[21][22][23][24] Despite "Microsoft, Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, labor, and virtually every editorial page in the state opposing I-695", and more than $2.1 million spent in the campaign against it, the $30 car tab fee was formally signed into law on March 30 after a positive ruling by the courts.

[25][26][27][28] A January 2001 assessment by the conservative Washington Policy Center of the measure's effect claimed a net savings of $750 million in the first year, and twenty-one predictions made by opponents had not materialized.

[29] Eyman's work on Initiative 695 in 2000 ($30 Car Tabs) was recognized by the Conservative Political Action Conference with its Ronald Reagan Award.

[30] Following the success of that measure,[a] Eyman established a political action committee called Permanent Offense to campaign for other anti-tax initiatives.

[14] According to Eyman, his decision to begin paying himself was due to the time he had invested into campaigning that had resulted in a loss of income from his watch business.

[34] Knute Berger once called him "a political player on a par with Governor Christine Gregoire and House Speaker Frank Chopp" and "the most influential conservative in the state".

[37] Writing in 2005, David S. Broder described Eyman as "a personable young man who has made a cottage industry of organizing tax-limitation initiatives".

[42] In 2007, after the initiative was declared unconstitutional by the Washington State Supreme Court, Governor Locke called a special session of the legislature to restore the 1% property tax increase limit.

[49] In December 2013, Democratic Washington state auditor Brian Sonntag said his office had identified almost $1.3 billion in potential five-year savings and increased revenue, after doing more than fifty performance audits and reviews.

[50] On January 30, Eyman filed an initiative and a referendum, both intended to repeal a measure which added sexual orientation to the list of categories against which discrimination in housing, lending, and employment is banned in the state of Washington.

[51] On January 9, Eyman filed an initiative to cap motor vehicle registration charges at $30 per year and repeal taxes and fees exceeding the $30 limit.

While at the front desk, and prior to the counting of any signatures, Eyman requested that the receptionist date stamp a piece of note pad with the number 300,353 on it.

[52] On July 23 Eyman charged the secretary of state's office with "... gross incompetence, purposeful sabotage, or blatant dishonesty" for the discrepancy of 34,347 signatures.

In response, Eyman introduced Initiative 1053 to reinstate the 2/3 majority requirement for the legislature to raise taxes, an approach voters supported since it was first proposed in 1993.

[77] Approximately 95% of the money to support the initiative was reportedly from "corporate behemoths such as oil companies ... the national beer and soda-pop industries and big pharmaceutical firms.

[96] On March 15, 2018, Eyman introduced two referendum measures with the intent to put all or portions of a recently passed law EHB2957 that effectively phases out non-native finfish aquaculture to a public vote.

[98] From Joel Richardson, Vice President of Public Affairs for Cooke Aquaculture, on the company's involvement with the campaign-- Initiative 976 again sought to cap car tabs at $30 and end transportation benefit districts and other local vehicle taxes.

[103] In November 2019, Eyman announced that he was running for Governor of Washington in 2020, while making a public comment at a Sound Transit meeting,[104] as a Republican.

[105] He formally entered the race as a Republican in a speech in his hometown Yakima, where he laid out his intention to run an aggressive campaign against Inslee, ignore his primary opponents, focus on conservative issues, and embrace the perceived similarities between him and President Donald Trump in terms of style, attitude and ability to weather attacks from the Left.

[107][108][109][110][111] After Inslee ordered a statewide ban on gatherings of more than 250 people to prevent spread of COVID-19, Eyman promoted a public event for which he set a goal of 251 attendees.

[117] Eyman eventually settled with the Washington State Attorney General's office, paying $50,000 and accepting a lifetime ban on involvement in any political committee's financial accounts.

[121] In February 2020, Eyman was found to have been in violation of Washington campaign finance laws for at least the last seven years, concealing nearly $800,000 in political contributions.

[5][122] On February 10, 2021, as a result of violating Washington campaign finance laws, Eyman was fined $2.6 million and barred from "managing, controlling, negotiating, or directing financial transactions for any political committee.

Through his attorney, Eyman released a statement that the incident was caused by his being distracted by telephone call when he returned to the store to pay for services and merchandise.