CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

                        HOUSE BILL 1553

                        54th Legislature

                      1995 Regular Session

Passed by the House March 9, 1995   Yeas 97   Nays 0 Speaker of the        House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 10, 1995   Yeas 47   Nays 0

CERTIFICATE I, Timothy A. Martin, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1553 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth.

President of the Senate

Chief Clerk

Approved Place Style On Codes above, and Style Off Codes below.

FILED

Governor of the State of Washington

Secretary of State                        State of Washington

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                                  HOUSE BILL 1553

                  _______________________________________________

                     Passed Legislature - 1995 Regular Session

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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