READ FIRST TIME 02/20/03.   

     AN ACT Relating to providing for the election of library trustees; and amending RCW 27.12.190.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 27.12.190 and 1982 c 123 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The management and control of a library shall be vested in a board of either five or seven trustees as hereinafter in this section provided. In cities and towns five trustees shall be appointed by the mayor with the consent of the legislative body. In counties, rural county library districts, and island library districts, five trustees shall be appointed by the board of county commissioners. In a regional library district a board of either five or seven trustees shall be appointed by the joint action of the legislative bodies concerned. In intercounty rural library districts a board of either five or seven trustees shall be appointed by the joint action of the boards of county commissioners of each of the counties included in a district. The first appointments for boards comprised of but five trustees shall be for terms of one, two, three, four, and five years respectively, and thereafter a trustee shall be appointed annually to serve for five years. The first appointments for boards comprised of seven trustees shall be for terms of one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven years respectively, and thereafter a trustee shall be appointed annually to serve for seven years. No person shall be appointed to any board of trustees for more than two consecutive terms. Vacancies shall be filled for unexpired terms as soon as possible in the manner in which members of the board are regularly chosen.
     (2) A library trustee shall not receive a salary or other compensation for services as trustee, but necessary expenses actually incurred shall be paid from the library funds.
     (3) A library trustee in the case of a city or town may be removed ((only)) by vote of the legislative body or by the process described in subsection (4) of this section. A trustee of a county library, a rural county library district library, or an island library district library may be removed for just cause by the county commissioners after a public hearing upon a written complaint stating the ground for removal, which complaint, with a notice of the time and place of hearing, shall have been served upon the trustee at least fifteen days before the hearing or by the process described in subsection (4) of this section. A trustee of an intercounty rural library district may be removed by the joint action of the board of county commissioners of the counties involved in the same manner as provided herein for the removal of a trustee of a county library or by the process described in subsection (4) of this section.
     (4) The citizens may by petition provide for a ballot measure to determine whether a library trustee should be removed from his or her position as trustee.
     (a) The ballot measure shall be submitted if a petition proposing the measure is submitted to the county auditor of the county in which the library district, city, town, or county is located or the most populous county in a multicounty library district that is signed by registered voters within the city, town, or county that made the appointment in question, numbering at least ten percent of the votes cast in the last primary election by registered voters within the district, city, town, or county.
     (b) Upon receipt of a citizen petition under (a) of this subsection, the county auditor shall determine whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of registered voters, using the registration records and returns of the preceding general election, and, no later than forty-five days after receipt of the petition, shall attach to the petition the auditor's certificate stating whether or not sufficient signatures have been obtained. If the signatures are found by the auditor to be insufficient, the petition shall be returned to the person filing it.
     (c) The ballot proposition addressing the removal of a library trustee from his or her position as trustee shall appear on the ballot of the next general election or at the next special election date specified under RCW 29.13.020 occurring sixty or more days after the date the county auditor certifies that the petition proposing such election contains sufficient valid signatures.