H-0337.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1908

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

By Representatives Schoesler, Morris, Santos, Hankins, Sump, Pennington, DeBolt, B. Chandler, Sehlin, D. Schmidt, Dunn, Mielke, McMorris, Tokuda, Buck, Skinner, Mulliken and Bush

Read first time 02/08/2001.  Referred to Committee on State Government.

Restricting mailings and public service broadcasts by state officials.

    AN ACT Relating to restrictions on mailings and public service broadcasts by state officials; and adding a new section to chapter 42.52 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 42.52 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) During the twelve-month period beginning on December 1st of the year before a general election for a state official's election to office and continuing through November 30th immediately after the general election, the state official may not mail, either by regular mail or electronic mail, to a constituent at public expense a letter, newsletter, brochure, or other piece of literature, and may not make public service broadcasts at public expense, except as follows:

    (a) The state official may mail two mailings of newsletters to constituents.  All newsletters within each mailing of newsletters must be identical as to their content but not as to the constituent name or address.  One such mailing may be mailed no later than March 30th and  the other mailing may be mailed no later than June 30th;

    (b) The state official may mail as an individual letter to (i) an individual constituent who has contacted the state official regarding the subject matter of the letter during the official's current term of office; (ii) an individual constituent who holds a governmental office with jurisdiction over the subject matter of the letter; or (iii) an individual constituent who has received an award or honor of extraordinary distinction of a type that is sufficiently infrequent to be noteworthy to a reasonable person, including, but not limited to:  (A) An international or national award such as the Nobel prize or the Pulitzer prize; (B) a state award such as Washington scholar; (C) an Eagle Scout award; and (D) a Medal of Honor.

    (2) The restriction on mailings in subsection (1) of this section does not apply to (a) brochures or other pieces of literature mailed as part of the regular duties of the state office that only refer to the office and do not include the name of the state official; or (b) correspondence on state office letterhead mailed by employees of the state office that are part of the regular duties of the state office.

    (3) The restriction on public service broadcasts under subsection (1) of this section does not apply to public service broadcasts that are part of the regular duties of the state office that only mention or visually display the state office and do not mention or visually display the name of the state official in the broadcast.

    (4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, "state official" means a state official who is a "candidate," as defined by RCW 42.17.020, for any public office.

    (5) This section does not apply to legislators, who are subject to  the restrictions under RCW 42.52.185.

    (6) A violation of this section constitutes use of the facilities of a public office for the purpose of assisting a campaign under RCW 42.52.180.

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