H-0258.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1553

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      54th Legislature     1995 Regular Session

By Representative L. Thomas; by request of Attorney General

Read first time 01/30/95.  Referred to Committee on Government Operations.

Concerning the proper form of certain ballot titles.

    AN ACT Relating to elections; and amending RCW 29.27.060.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 29.27.060 and 1993 c 256 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) When a proposed constitution or constitutional amendment, initiative measure, referendum bill, or other question is to be submitted to the people of the state for state-wide popular vote, the attorney general shall prepare a concise statement posed as a question and not exceeding ((twenty)) twenty-five words containing the essential features thereof expressed in such a manner as to clearly identify the proposition to be voted upon.

    Questions to be submitted to the people of a county or municipality shall also be advertised as provided for nominees for office, and in such cases there shall also be printed on the ballot a concise statement posed as a question and not exceeding seventy-five words containing the essential features thereof expressed in such a manner as to clearly identify the proposition to be voted upon, which statement shall be prepared by the city or town attorney for the city or town, and by the prosecuting attorney for the county or any other unit of local government, other than a city or town, the majority area of which is situated in the county.

    The concise statement constitutes the ballot title.

    (2) The secretary of state shall certify to the county auditors the ballot title for a proposed constitution, constitutional amendment or other state-wide question at the same time and in the same manner as the ballot titles to initiatives and referendums.

    (3) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to referendum measures filed on an enactment of the state legislature or on an enactment of the legislative authority of a unit of local government, nor does it apply to the extent that other provisions of state law provide otherwise for a specific type of ballot question or proposition.

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