BILL REQ. #:  S-0066.2 

Read first time 01/25/11.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to providing mandatory notice and waiting periods before legislative action; and adding a new section to chapter 44.04 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 44.04 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) An omnibus operating, capital, or transportation appropriations bill and any tax or fee bill, and any proposed substitute, striking amendment, or conference committee report thereon, must be made publicly available to the members of the legislature and the public at least twenty-four hours before such a bill is eligible for a public hearing, is eligible for legislative action, or is eligible to be voted on by the senate or the house of representatives.
     (2) A bill identified in subsection (1) of this section is not eligible for legislative action on the floor of either the senate or house of representatives until twenty-four hours after it has been placed on the floor calendar.
     (3) A bill identified in subsection (1) of this section is not eligible for final passage in either house of the legislature unless copies of the bill, in the form to be passed, have been made available to the members of that house of the legislature and the public for at least twenty-four hours.
     (4) This section may be suspended by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to the house of the legislature in which it is pending, and every individual consideration of a bill or action suspending this section must be recorded in the journal of the respective house of the legislature.