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, an amendment to the state Constitution by repealing all of Articles II and XXII, section 1 of Article V, that part of Amendment 52 that amended Article II, section 15, and all of Amendments 7, 13, 18, 26, 30, 32, 35, 36, 39, and 56, and adopting in lieu thereof the following:

ARTICLE IIA

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 1. ORGANIZATION AND POWERS. Commencing with the regular session of the legislature to be held in January, 1995, the legislative authority of the state of Washington shall be vested in a legislature, consisting of forty-nine members, who shall be called senators, but the people reserve to themselves the power to propose bills and laws, and to enact or reject them at the polls independent of the legislature, and also reserve the power at their option to approve or reject at the polls any act, item, section, or part of any bill, act, or law passed by the legislature. All authority previously vested by the Constitution or laws of the state in the senate, the house of representatives, or joint session thereof, insofar as applicable, shall be and hereby is vested in the legislature. All provisions in the Constitution and laws of the state relating to the legislature, the senate, the house of representatives, joint sessions of the legislature and house of representatives, senators, or members of the house of representatives shall insofar as those provisions are applicable, apply to and mean the legislature consisting of a single chamber and the members of the legislature. All references to the speaker of the house of representatives shall mean the president of the legislature. All references to the president of the senate shall mean the president of the legislature. Wherever any provision of the Constitution requires submission of any matter to or action by the house of representatives, the senate, or joint session thereof, or the members of either body or bodies, after January 1, 1995, it shall be construed to mean the legislature.Section 2. INITIATIVE. The first power reserved by the people is the initiative. Eight percent of the number of voters registered and voting for the office of governor at the last preceding regular gubernatorial election shall be required to propose any measure by initiative petition, and every petition shall include the full text of the measure so proposed. Initiative petitions shall be filed with the secretary of state not less than four months before the election at which they are to be voted upon, or not less than ten days before any regular session of the legislature. If filed at least four months before the election at which they are to be voted upon, the secretary of state shall submit the initiative to the vote of the people at that election. If the petitions are filed not less than ten days before any regular session of the legislature, the secretary of state shall transmit the initiative to the legislature as soon as it convenes and organizes. This initiative measure takes precedence over all other measures in the legislature except appropriation bills and shall be either enacted or rejected without change or amendment by the legislature before the end of the regular session. If any initiative measure is enacted by the legislature it is subject to the referendum petition. If it is rejected or if no action is taken upon it by the legislature before the end of the regular session, the secretary of state shall submit it to the people for approval or rejection at the next ensuing regular general election. The legislature may reject any measure so proposed by initiative petition and propose a different one dealing with the same subject, and in that event both measures shall be submitted by the secretary of state to the people for approval or rejection at the next ensuing regular general election. When conflicting measures are submitted to the people the ballots shall be so printed that a voter can express separately by making one cross (X) for each of two preferences: First, as between either measure and neither; and secondly, as between one and the other. If the majority of those voting on the first issue is for neither, both fail, but in that case the votes on the second issue shall nevertheless be carefully counted and made public. If a majority voting on the first issue is for either, then the measure receiving a majority of the votes on the second issue shall be law.Section 3. REFERENDUM. The second power reserved by the people is the referendum, and it may be ordered on any act, bill, law, or any part thereof passed by the legislature, except such laws as may be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, either by petition signed by the required percentage of the legal voters, or by the legislature as other bills are enacted. The legislature may not order a referendum on any initiative measure enacted by the legislature under section 2 of this article. Four percent of the number of voters registered and voting for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election preceding the filing of the text of the referendum measure with the secretary of state are required to sign and make a valid referendum petition.

No act, law, or bill subject to referendum may take effect until ninety days after the date of its enactment. No act, law, or bill approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon may be amended or repealed by the legislature within a period of two years following its enactment except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to the legislature with full compliance with section 12, Article III, of the Washington Constitution. No amendatory law enacted by the legislature in accordance with this provision is subject to referendum, but such enactment may be amended or repealed at any general regular or special election by a direct vote of the people.

Filing a referendum petition against one or more items, sections, or parts of any act, law, or bill shall not delay the remainder of the measure from becoming operative. Referendum petitions against a measure passed by the legislature shall be filed with the secretary of state not later than ninety days after the date of its enactment. The veto power of the governor shall not extend to measures initiated by or referred to the people. All elections on measures referred to the people of the state shall be at the regular elections, except when the legislature orders a special election. Any measure initiated by the people or referred to the people as provided in this article shall take effect and become the law if it is approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon and if the vote cast upon the measure equals one-third of the total votes cast at the election. The measure shall be in operation on and after the thirtieth day after the election at which it is approved. The style of all bills proposed by initiative petition shall be "BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON." This section shall not be construed to deprive any member of the legislature of the right to introduce any measure. The whole number of electors who voted for governor at the regular gubernatorial election last preceding the filing of any petition for the initiative or for the referendum shall be the basis on which the number of legal voters necessary to sign the petition shall be calculated. All such petitions shall be filed with the secretary of state, who shall be guided by the general laws in submitting the measure to the people until additional legislation especially provides therefor. This section is self-executing, but legislation may be enacted especially to facilitate its operation.

The legislature shall provide methods of publicity of all laws or part of laws, and amendments to the Constitution referred to the people with arguments for and against the laws and amendments so referred. The secretary of state shall send one copy of publication to each individual place of residence in the state and shall make such additional distribution as he shall determine necessary to reasonably assure that each voter will have an opportunity to study the measures prior to election.Section 4. LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS. The existing legislative districts shall continue in effect until reapportioned at a regular session of the legislature. The legislative districts shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory, from each of which there shall be elected two members of the legislature. After each decennial census, the legislature shall reallot the number of members assigned to each district in accordance with the changes in the population of the several districts. The boundaries of the districts and the total number of members may be altered only by law and not more frequently than once in each census period. The legislature may provide by law for an expert nonpartisan body to assist in the task of reapportionment and redistricting.Section 5. ELECTION OF MEMBERS. Members of the legislature shall be elected for a term of four years, except for the first election under the unicameral amendment, at which time as near to one-half as possible of the members shall be elected for terms of two years. At the conclusion of these shortened terms the regular terms of four years shall be in effect, and every general election after that shall serve to elect as near to one-half as possible of the membership of the legislature. The 1994 legislature shall provide by law for the designation of those positions that shall have the initial two-year terms.

The next election of the members of the legislature after the adoption of this article shall be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1994, and thereafter members shall be elected biennially on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November unless otherwise changed by law.Section 6. SESSIONS. Meetings of the legislature and its committees shall be open except where the public welfare requires secrecy. Sessions of the legislature shall be annual and shall be of a duration determined by that body. The legislature may be called into session by the governor, or by such proportion of the membership of the legislature as the legislature determines. The legislature may not adjourn for more than thirty days, nor to any place other than that in which it is sitting.

The first session of the legislature after the adoption of this article shall meet on the second Monday in January, 1995, and the legislature shall meet annually thereafter. The legislature may change the times of meeting of subsequent sessions.

Section 7. COMPENSATION OF STATE OFFICIALS. All elected state officials shall each severally receive such compensation as the legislature directs. The compensation of any state officer shall not be increased or diminished during his term of office.Section 8. QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS. No person is eligible to election to the legislature who is not a citizen of the United States and a qualified voter in the district for which the person is chosen.Section 9. LEGISLATURE JUDGE OF OWN ELECTIONS, QUALIFICATIONS‑-QUORUM. The legislature shall be the judge of the election, returns, and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of the legislature constitutes a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and may compel the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as the legislature may provide.Section 10. LEGISLATIVE COMPENSATION. Each member of the legislature shall receive compensation for his or her services, and that compensation shall be fixed at the beginning of each year at an amount equal to twice the median income for a family of four in the state of Washington for the second year prior to the year in which the compensation is paid. Members of the legislature may also be compensated for actual reasonable expenses incurred in legislative work. No legislator may receive other income for personal services while serving in the legislature, nor may he or she engage in any outside work that may substantially affect his or her ability to perform legislative duties.Section 11. RULES OF PROCEDURE. The legislature may determine the rules of its own proceedings, punish for contempt and disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected, expel a member.Section 12. OFFICERS. The lieutenant governor shall serve as president of the legislature. The legislature shall elect its other officers, and when the lieutenant governor does not attend as president or acts as governor, the legislature shall choose a temporary president. When presiding, the lieutenant governor has the deciding vote in case of an equal division of the legislature.Section 13. MEMBERS HOLDING CONCURRENT OFFICES. No member may simultaneously hold a seat in the legislature and serve in any other elective office under the authority of the state of Washington or the United States.Section 14. IMPEACHMENT. The legislature has the sole power of impeachment. The concurrence of two-thirds of all the members is necessary for impeachment, but interested members are not qualified to vote. Impeachments shall be tried by the legislature sitting as a judicial tribunal. No person may be convicted and removed from office without a concurring vote of two-thirds of the members of the legislature.Section 15. VACANCIES IN LEGISLATURE AND IN PARTISAN COUNTY ELECTIVE OFFICES. Vacancies that occur in the legislature or in any partisan county elective office shall be filled by appointment by the legislative authority of the county in which the vacancy occurs. The person appointed to fill the vacancy shall be from the same legislative district and the same political party as the legislator or partisan county elective officer whose office has been vacated, and shall be one of three persons nominated by the county central committee of that party. The person so appointed shall hold office until his or her successor is elected at the next general election and has qualified. In case of a vacancy occurring in the office of joint legislator, the vacancy shall be filled from a list of three nominees selected by the state central committee, by appointment by the joint action of the legislative authorities of the counties composing the joint legislative district, and the person appointed to fill the vacancy must be from the same political party as the legislator whose office has been vacated. If a majority of the county legislative authorities do not agree upon the appointment within sixty days after the vacancy occurs, the governor shall within thirty days thereafter, and from the list of nominees provided for in this section, appoint a person from the same legislative district and of the same political party as the legislator whose office has been vacated.Section 16. PRIVILEGES FROM ARREST. Members of the legislature are privileged from arrest in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, and they are not subject to any civil process during the session of the legislature.Section 17. FREEDOM OF DEBATE. Members of the legislature are not liable in any civil action or criminal prosecution whatever, for words spoken in debate.Section 18. LEGISLATION. (1) A bill becomes law upon (a) final passage by a majority of the members of the legislature present; (b) being signed by the presiding officer of the legislature in open session and under such rules as the legislature may provide; and (c) the passage of ninety days after its enactment.

(2) The legislature shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and the yeas and nays of members shall be recorded and reported on all bills in committee and before the full legislature. Committee reports must be printed in the journal.

(3) No laws may be enacted by the legislature except by bill. The style of the laws of the state shall be "BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON."

(4) The legislature shall enact procedures for the introduction, revision, and amendment of bills.

(5) No bill may embrace more than one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title.Section 19. INTRODUCTION AND PASSAGE OF BILLS. No bill may be considered in the legislature unless it was introduced at least ten days before the final adjournment of the legislature and the bill was read three times on separate days, unless the legislature directs otherwise by a vote of two-thirds of all the elected members, which vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered upon the journal, or unless the bill was introduced at a special session.Section 20. REVISION OR AMENDMENT. No law may ever be revised or amended by mere reference to its title, but the law revised or the section amended shall be set forth at full length.Section 21. LIMITATION ON AMENDMENTS TO BILLS. No amendment to any bill may be allowed that changes the scope and object of the bill.Section 22. LOTTERIES AND DIVORCE. The legislature shall never grant any divorce. Lotteries shall be prohibited except as specifically authorized upon the affirmative vote of sixty percent of the members of the legislature or, notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, by referendum or initiative approved by a sixty percent affirmative vote of the electors voting on it.Section 23. EXTRA COMPENSATION PROHIBITED. The legislature shall never grant any extra compensation to any public officer, agent, servant, or contractor after the services have been rendered or the contract entered into.Section 24. SUITS AGAINST THE STATE. The legislature shall direct by law, in what manner, and in what courts, suits may be brought against the state.Section 25. SPECIAL LEGISLATION. The legislature is prohibited from enacting any private or special laws in the following cases:

(1) For changing the names of persons, or making one person the heir at law of another;

(2) For laying out, opening, or altering highways, except in cases of state roads extending into more than one county, and military roads to aid in the construction of which lands shall have been or may be granted by congress;

(3) For authorizing persons to keep ferries wholly within this state;

(4) For authorizing the sale or mortgage of real or personal property of minors or others under disability;

(5) For assessment or collection of taxes or for extending the time for collection of taxes;

(6) For granting corporate powers or privileges;

(7) For authorizing the apportionment of any part of the school fund;

(8) For incorporating any city or town or to amend the charter thereof;

(9) From giving effect to invalid deeds, wills, or other instruments;

(10) Releasing or extinguishing in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liability, or other obligation, of any person, or corporation to this state, or to any municipal corporation therein;

(11) Declaring any person of age or authorizing any minor to sell, lease, or encumber his or her property;

(12) Legalizing, except as against the state, the unauthorized or invalid act of any officer;

(13) Regulating the rates of interest on money;

(14) Remitting fines, penalties, or forfeitures;

(15) Providing for the management of common schools;

(16) Authorizing the adoption of children;

(17) For limitation of civil or criminal actions; or

(18) Changing county lines or locating or changing any county seat, except that this shall not be construed to apply to the creation of new counties.Section 26. CONVICT LABOR. The labor of convicts of this state shall not be let out by contract to any person, copartnership, company, or corporation, and the legislature shall by law provide for the working of convicts for the benefit of the state.Section 27. BRIBERY OR CORRUPT SOLICITATION. The offense of corrupt solicitation of the members of the legislature, or of public officers of the state or any municipal division thereof, and any occupation or practice of solicitation thereof, and any occupation or practice of solicitation of the members or officers to influence their official action, shall be defined by law, and shall be punished by fine and imprisonment. Any person may be compelled to testify in any lawful investigation or judicial proceeding against any person who may be charged with having committed the offense of bribery or corrupt solicitation, or practice of solicitation, and shall not be permitted to withhold his or her testimony on the ground that it may incriminate himself or herself or subject him or her to public infamy, but that testimony shall not afterwards be used against him or her in any judicial proceeding except for perjury in giving the testimony. Any person convicted of either of the offenses shall, as part of the punishment therefor, be disqualified from ever holding any position of honor, trust, or profit in this state. A member who has a private interest in any bill or measure proposed or pending before the legislature, shall disclose the fact and shall not vote thereon.Section 28. GOVERNMENT CONTINUITY IN EMERGENCIES. The legislature shall enact legislation providing for the continuity of state and local government operations in the event of enemy attack or dire natural catastrophe. The legislature may provide for the temporary succession of persons to municipal and constitutional offices where the incumbents or legal successors of those offices are unavailable for carrying on the powers and duties of such offices.Section 29. PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEES. The legislature shall pass necessary laws for the protection of persons working in mines, factories, and other employments dangerous to life or deleterious to health, and shall prescribe penalties for the violation of those laws.Section 30. FREE TRANSPORTATION TO PUBLIC OFFICER PROHIBITED. It is unlawful for any person holding public office in this state to accept or use a pass or to purchase transportation from any railroad or other corporation, other than as transportation may be purchased by the general public, and the legislature shall pass laws to enforce this provision.Section 31. HIGHWAY FUNDS. All fees collected by the state of Washington as license fees for motor vehicles and all excise taxes collected by the state of Washington on the sale, distribution, or use of motor vehicle fuel and all other state revenue intended to be used for highway purposes, shall be paid into the state treasury and placed in a special fund to be used exclusively for highway purposes. Highway purposes shall be construed to include the following:

(1) The necessary operating, engineering, and legal expenses connected with the administration of public highways, county roads, and city streets;

(2) The construction, reconstruction, maintenance, repair, and betterment of public highways, county roads, bridges, and city streets, including the cost and expense of (a) acquisition of rights of way, (b) installing, maintaining, and operating traffic signs and signal lights, (c) policing by the state of public highways, (d) operation of movable span bridges, (e) operation of ferries that are a part of any public highway, county road, or city street;

(3) The payment or refunding of any obligation of the state of Washington, or any political subdivision thereof, for which any of the revenues described in the first paragraph of this section may have been legally pledged prior to November 8, 1943;

(4) Refunds authorized by law for taxes paid on motor vehicle fuels; and

(5) The cost of collection of any revenues described in this section.

This section shall not be construed to include revenue from general or special taxes or excises not levied primarily for highway purposes, or apply to vehicle operator's license fees or any excise tax imposed on motor vehicles or the use thereof in lieu of a property tax thereon, or fees for certificates of ownership of motor vehicles.Section 32. REPEALS. Articles II and XXII, section 1 of Article V, that part of Amendment 52 that amended Article II, section 15, and all of Amendments 7, 13, 18, 26, 30, 32, 35, 36, 39, and 56 are hereby repealed.

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 establishing a unicameral legislature. 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.