BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION ASSEMBLED:

THAT, At the next general election to be held in this state the secretary of state shall submit to the qualified voters of the state for their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to Article IV, section 3 of the Constitution of the state of Washington and an amendment to Article II of the Constitution of the state of Washington by adding a new section to read as follows:

Article II, section . . . . (1) Except as provided in this subsection: No person is eligible to be elected or appointed to serve more than eight years in the same office of the judicial branch of state or local government; no person is eligible to be elected or appointed to serve more than eight years as a judge of the supreme court; no person is eligible to be elected or appointed to serve more than eight years as a judge of the court of appeals; no person is eligible to be elected or appointed to serve more than eight years as a judge of the superior court; no person is eligible to be elected or appointed to serve more than eight years as a judge of the district court.

If four years have elapsed between the time a person last served in an office governed by this section and the time the person would again serve in the office, the person's service in that office before those four years is not counted in determining the person's eligibility to serve in the office under this section. For an office governed by this section, a person's service in a term of the office initiated before the effective date of this section is to be counted in determining the person's eligibility to serve in the office under this section.

(2) No person who holds one office governed by subsection (1) of this section may, while holding that office, file as a candidate for any other office governed by this section, unless the person is in the last year of the full term of the office. Nothing in this subsection prevents a person from resigning one office to file as a candidate for another office.

Article IV, section 3. The judges of the supreme court shall be elected by the qualified electors of the state at large at the general state election at the times and places at which state officers are elected, unless some other time be provided by the legislature. The first election of judges of the supreme court shall be at the election which shall be held upon the adoption of this Constitution and the judges elected thereat shall be classified by lot, so that two shall hold their office for the term of three years, two for the term of five years, and one for the term of seven years. The lot shall be drawn by the judges who shall for that purpose assemble at the seat of government, and they shall cause the result thereof to be certified to the secretary of state, and filed in his office. The judge having the shortest term to serve not holding his office by appointment or election to fill a vacancy, shall be the chief justice, and shall preside at all sessions of the supreme court, and in case there shall be two judges having in like manner the same short term, the other judges of the supreme court shall determine which of them shall be chief justice. In case of the absence of the chief justice, the judge having in like manner the shortest or next shortest term to serve shall preside. After the first election and before the election held in nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, the terms of judges elected shall be six years. Beginning with the election held in nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, the term of office of each judge of the supreme court elected to a full term is four years. The terms of office of the judges are from and after the second Monday in January next succeeding their election. If a vacancy occurs in the office of a judge of the supreme court the governor shall appoint a person to hold the office until the election and qualification of a judge to fill the vacancy, which election shall take place at the next succeeding general election, and the judge so elected shall hold the office for the remainder of the unexpired term. The term of office of the judges of the supreme court, first elected, shall commence as soon as the state shall have been admitted into the Union, and continue for the term herein provided, and until their successors are elected and qualified. The sessions of the supreme court shall be held at the seat of government until otherwise provided by law.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this amendment is a single amendment within the meaning of Article XXIII, section 1 of the state Constitution.

The legislature finds that the changes contained in this amendment constitute a single integrated plan for revising procedures for filling vacancies in state and local judicial elective offices. If this amendment is held to be separate amendments, this joint resolution is void in its entirety and is of no further force and effect.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause notice of this constitutional amendment to be published at least four times during the four weeks next preceding the election in every legal newspaper in the state.