S-4252.1  _______________________________________________

                         SENATE BILL 6689

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By Senators Prince, Winsley, Kline, B. Sheldon, Haugen, Goings, Fraser, Fairley, Wood and Thibaudeau

Read first time 01/27/98.  Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.

Ensuring equal opportunity in public employment, education, and contracting.

    AN ACT Relating to ensuring equal opportunity without quotas in public employment, education, and contracting; and adding a new section to chapter 49.60 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 49.60 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The state is prohibited from using quotas that require hiring or selecting persons in public employment, education, and contracting, based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.

    (2) For the purposes of this section, "quota" means a fixed number or percentage that must be attained or cannot be exceeded, and that violates the United States Constitution.

    (3) For the purposes of this section, "state" means the state of Washington, any city, county, public college or university, community college, school district, special district, or other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or within the state.

    (4) No affirmative action program operated by the state may hire or select unqualified persons.

    (5) The state may ensure equal opportunity in public employment, education, and contracting and prevent discrimination based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin to the extent permissible under the United States Constitution.

    (6) Nothing in this section limits the ability of courts to correct the effects of, or prevent, discrimination.

    (7) Nothing in this section prohibits action reasonably taken to ensure eligibility for any federal program, where ineligibility could result in a loss of federal funds to the state.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

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