S-2032

AN ACT Relating to contracting by public officers; and amending RCW 42.23.030.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 42.23.030 and 1996 c 246 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

No municipal officer shall be beneficially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract which may be made by, through or under the supervision of such officer, in whole or in part, or which may be made for the benefit of his or her office, or accept, directly or indirectly, any compensation, gratuity or reward in connection with such contract from any other person beneficially interested therein. This section shall not apply in the following cases:

(1) The furnishing of electrical, water or other utility services by a municipality engaged in the business of furnishing such services, at the same rates and on the same terms as are available to the public generally;

(2) The designation of public depositaries for municipal funds;

(3) The publication of legal notices required by law to be published by any municipality, upon competitive bidding or at rates not higher than prescribed by law for members of the general public;

(4) The designation of a school director as clerk or as both clerk and purchasing agent of a school district;

(5) The employment of any person by a municipality, other than a county with a population of one hundred twenty-five thousand or more, a city of the first or second class, an irrigation district encompassing in excess of fifty thousand acres, or a first class school district, for unskilled day labor at wages not exceeding one hundred dollars in any calendar month;

(6)(a) The letting of any other contract (((except a sale or lease as seller or lessor) by a municipality, other than a county with a population of one hundred twenty-five thousand or more, a city with a population of ten thousand or more, or an irrigation district encompassing in excess of fifty thousand acres: PROVIDED, That the total volume of business represented by such contract or contracts in which a particular officer is interested, singly or in the aggregate, as measured by the dollar amount of the municipality's liability thereunder, shall)) in which the total amount received under the contract or contracts by the municipal officer or the municipal officer's business does not exceed ((~~seven hundred fifty~~)) one thousand five hundred dollars in any calendar month((~~: PROVIDED FURTHER, That~~)).

(b) However, in the case of a particular officer of a second class city or town, or a noncharter optional code city, or a member of any county fair board in a county which has not established a county purchasing department pursuant to RCW 36.32.240, the total ((~~volume~~)) amount of such contract or contracts authorized in this subsection may exceed ((~~seven hundred fifty~~)) one thousand five hundred dollars in any calendar month but shall not exceed ((~~nine~~)) eighteen thousand dollars in any calendar year((: PROVIDED FURTHER, That there shall be public disclosure by having an available list of such purchases or contracts, and if the supplier or contractor is an official of the municipality, he or she shall not vote on the authorization: PROVIDED FURTHER, That in the case of a first class school district, there shall be notice of the proposed contract by publication given in one or more newspapers of general circulation within the district;)).

(c) The exceptions provided in this subsection (6) also do not apply to the letting of any contract by a county with a population of one hundred twenty-five thousand or more, a city with a population of ten thousand or more, or an irrigation district encompassing more than fifty thousand acres;

(d) The municipality shall maintain a list of all contracts that are awarded pursuant to this subsection (6). The list must be made available for public inspection and copying.

(e) The dollar amount in this subsection (6) shall be adjusted annually based on the governmental price index established by the department of revenue under RCW 82.14.200.

(7) The leasing by a port district as lessor of port district property to a municipal officer or to a contracting party in which a municipal officer may be beneficially interested, if in addition to all other legal requirements, a board of three disinterested appraisers, who shall be appointed from members of the American institute of real estate appraisers by the presiding judge of the superior court in the county where the property is situated, shall find and the court finds that all terms and conditions of such lease are fair to the port district and are in the public interest;

(8) The letting of any employment contract for the driving of a school bus in a second class school district: PROVIDED, That the terms of such contract shall be commensurate with the pay plan or collective bargaining agreement operating in the district;

(9) The letting of any employment contract to the spouse of an officer of a second class school district in which less than two hundred full time equivalent students are enrolled at the start of the school year as defined in RCW 28A.150.040, when such contract is solely for employment as a certificated or classified employee of the school district, or the letting of any contract to the spouse of an officer of a school district, when such contract is solely for employment as a substitute teacher for the school district: PROVIDED, That the terms of such contract shall be commensurate with the pay plan or collective bargaining agreement applicable to all district employees and the board of directors has found, consistent with the written policy under RCW 28A.330.240, that there is a shortage of substitute teachers in the school district;

(10) The letting of any employment contract to the spouse of an officer of a school district if the spouse was under contract as a certificated or classified employee with the school district before the date in which the officer assumes office: PROVIDED, That the terms of such contract shall be commensurate with the pay plan or collective bargaining agreement operating in the district.