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: 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].

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 Substitute 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.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:

The substitute bill adds the requirement that a subscriber to such notifications be allowed by the sender to specify his or her preferred method of communication to receive the notices. The substitute also prescribes methods for the verification that such a notice was received by the subscriber: if electronic mail is used, a return receipt must be requested; if fax is used, a reply fax must be requested; or, if the electronic mail return receipt or reply fax are not received in a timely manner, the sender would be required to verify receipt by telephone.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Not requested.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill: 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.