S-0603.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 5150

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     1999 Regular Session

By Senators McCaslin and Patterson

Read first time 01/14/1999.  Referred to Committee on State & Local Government.

Authorizing county commissioners to be elected by the voters of each commissioner district.

    AN ACT Relating to county commissioner elections; and amending RCW 36.32.050 and 36.32.0556.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 36.32.050 and 1963 c 4 s 36.32.050 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided under subsection (2) of this section, county commissioners shall be elected by the ((qualified)) registered voters of the entire county and the person receiving the highest number of votes for the office of commissioner for the district in which he or she resides shall be declared duly elected from that district.

(2) In a noncharter county, a ballot proposition authorizing the election of each county commissioner by the voters of a separate county commissioner district, instead of the voters of the entire county, shall be submitted to the county voters if the board of county commissioners adopts a resolution proposing the change or if a petition proposing the change is filed with the county auditor signed by county voters equal in number to at least ten percent of the number of voters residing in the county.  The auditor shall certify the sufficiency of the signatures on the petition.  A ballot proposition authorizing the election of each county commissioner by the voters of a separate commissioner district shall be submitted to county voters at the next special election date specified under RCW 29.13.010 occurring sixty or more days after the date the resolution is adopted or the petition with sufficient valid signatures was submitted.

If the ballot proposition is approved by a simple majority vote of the voters voting on the proposition, each county commissioner shall be elected by the voters of his or her county commissioner district commencing at the next general election.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 36.32.0556 and 1990 c 252 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

    The commissioners in a five-member board of county commissioners shall be elected to four-year staggered terms.  Each commissioner shall reside in a separate commissioner district.  Each commissioner shall be nominated from a separate commissioner district by the voters of that district.  Each shall be elected by the voters of the entire county except as provided under RCW 36.32.050(2).  Three members of a five-member board of commissioners shall constitute a quorum to do business.

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