Title: An act relating to allowing special meetings to be called through electronic mail notice.

Brief Description: Allowing fax and electronic mail notice of special meetings.

Sponsors: By Representatives Clibborn, Pettigrew, Shabro, Nixon, B. Sullivan, Moeller, Jarrett, Hunter, Hudgins, Upthegrove, Tom, Morrell, P. Sullivan, Wallace and Kilmer.

Brief History:

State Government Operations & Accountability: 1/21/05, 1/28/05 [DPS].

Floor Activity:

Passed House: 2/25/05, 95-0.
Passed Senate: 4/11/05, 46-0.
Passed Legislature.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS & ACCOUNTABILITY

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 8 members: Representatives Haigh, Chair; Green, Vice Chair; Nixon, Ranking Minority Member; Clements, McDermott, Miloscia, Schindler and Sump.

Staff: James Allen (786-7114).

Background:

A public agency may notify each member of its governing body and the media of a special meeting by personal delivery of the notice or by mail.

Summary of Bill:

Fax and electronic mail are added to the list of means available for a public agency to notify each member of its governing body and the media of a special meeting. The bill allows a subscriber to select his or her preferred method of communication and prescribes a system for verifying that notices were received.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: This is a small bill, but it will bring us into the 21st century. Mail is often too slow and sometimes notices of a cancelled meeting arrive too late to be of any help; thus, by allowing fax and electronic mail to be used, there is another way for people to be notified of a special meeting. The clerks who work with these notifications feel strongly about this good bill. This bill will help people to attend meetings. It would be good to have a means to acknowledge the receipt or the confirmation of delivery of the notice, as spam filters or other factors might keep some of the notices from going through.

Testimony Against: None.

Persons Testifying: (In support of original bill) Representative Clibborn, prime sponsor; Sharon Mattioli, Washington Municipal Clerks Association; Victoria Lincoln, Association of Washington Cities; and Rowland Thompson, Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.