FINAL BILL REPORT

                  HB 2244

PARTIAL VETO

                          C 81 L 94

Brief Description:  Changing provisions relating to classification of cities and towns.

By Representatives Dunshee, Horn, H. Myers and Springer.

House Committee on Local Government

Senate Committee on Government Operations

Background:  A variety of different types of cities and towns may be created, including first class cities, second class cities, third class cities, towns, unclassified cities operating under territorial charters, and code cities.  Currently there are no second class cities.

Perhaps the most fundamental difference in the statutes relating to different classes of cities and towns involves the array of elected officials for the class of city or town.  Noncode cities and towns have a mayor/council plan of government, with different arrays of elected officials, unless the noncode city opts to have a council manager plan of government or a commission plan of government or the town opts to have a council manager plan of government.

Any noncode city or town may become a code city and may choose either to retain its own array of elected officials or to have the array of elected officials provided in code city statutes.  Any code city may opt to have the array of elected officials that any other class of city or town may have.

Legislation was enacted in 1959 removing towns from any metropolitan park district and prohibiting a metropolitan park district from including a town. 

Summary:  Every third class city becomes a second class city.  Many statutes relating to third class cities are altered by changing the term "third class" to "second class," and these amended statutes are recodified in second class city statutes.  Many of the existing second class city statutes are repealed.  General statutes that refer to a string of different classes of cities are altered to eliminate the reference to third class cities.

Statutes relating to the array of elected officials in a third class city are retained and become the provisions for the array of elected officials for a second class city.  However, existing statutes relating to the array of elected officials in a second class city with a mayor/council plan of government are retained, limited to any code city that opted to retain such an array of elected officials.

Code city statutes are amended to state more clearly that any noncode city or town that becomes a code city may retain its old array of elected officials in lieu of the array of elected officials provided in code city statutes.  The option of any code city to change to any plan of government and different array of elected officials is eliminated.

Statutes are clarified as to how a noncode city or town may change its class to another type of noncode city or town as the population of the city or town changes.

References to municipal corporations of the fourth class, or fourth class cities, are changed to towns.

The definitions of different classes of noncode cities and towns are clarified to acknowledge that a first class city is a noncode city with a population of 10,000 or more that has adopted a city charter.

The 1959 statutes are repealed detailing how assets are distributed to a town that is removed from a metropolitan park district.

Votes on Final Passage:

House  94 0

Senate 43 0

Effective:  June 9, 1994

Partial Veto Summary:  Two sections amending statutes were vetoed.  These statutes were repealed elsewhere.