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                                            HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 1

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State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Representatives Sommers, G. Nelson, Brekke, B. Williams, Schoon, Sayan and Winsley; by Legislative Budget Committee request

Prefiled with Chief Clerk 1/7/85.  Read first time 1/14/85 and referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION ASSEMBLED:

          THAT, At the next general election to be held in this state there shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the state for their approval and ratification, or rejection, a proposal to amend Article II of the Constitution of the state of Washington by adding new sections thereto to read as follows:

Article II, section ....            The legislature shall have the power to establish an agency to exercise budgetary control over all executive and administrative state officers, departments, boards, commissions, and agencies of state government.

Section ....      The legislature is authorized to establish by law a joint committee composed of members of both houses of the legislature, the membership to be fixed by law, which committee may exercise the powers under this section and the powers conferred upon it by law.  When the legislature is not in session or has been in recess for three calendar days or more the committee may exercise the following powers:

          (1) When an emergency exists, as defined by the legislature, to allocate to any state agency or program, out of any fund or funds appropriated to the committee:  (a) Additional moneys beyond the amount appropriated to the agency by the legislature; or (b) moneys to carry on an activity required by law for which no appropriation was made;

          (2) To authorize any state agency to expend from moneys available from unanticipated receipts, as defined by the legislature, for the uses and purposes of the agency, sums in excess of the amount of the appropriation to such agency as provided by law; and

          (3) To revise or amend appropriations items for programs or to state agencies to the extent of authorizing transfers between appropriation items from the same fund for an agency.

          The authority granted members of the legislature by this section shall not be deemed to violate Article II, section 13 of this Constitution.

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the foregoing amendment shall be construed as a single amendment within the meaning of Article XXIII, section 1 of this Constitution.

          The legislature finds that the changes contained in the foregoing amendment constitute a single integrated plan for budgetary control.  If the foregoing amendment is held to be separate amendments, this joint resolution shall be void in its entirety and shall be of no further force and effect.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause notice of the foregoing constitutional amendment to be published at least four times during the four weeks next preceding the election in every legal newspaper in the state.