BILL REQ. #:  S-0483.1 

Read first time 01/20/2005.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to the application of referendum powers to growth management measures; amending RCW 36.70A.030; and adding a new section to chapter 36.70A RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 36.70A RCW to read as follows:
     (1)(a) Within thirty days after a growth management hearings board order remanding or finding a growth management measure, or any portion thereof, enacted by a county legislative authority to be invalid or out of compliance, the legislative authority of that county may, by ordinance, refer that growth management measure to the voters of that county for their affirmation or rejection at a general or special election. The county legislative authority shall by ordinance establish referendum forms and procedures not specifically provided for in this section.
     (b) A referendum election on one or more sections of any growth management measure shall delay only those sections, and any board decision regarding those sections, from taking effect. If the growth management measure is affirmed by a majority voting on the issue, it becomes effective ten days after the results of the election are certified, unless a later date is specified in the growth management measure. If the growth management measure is rejected by a majority voting on the issue, the board's decision becomes effective ten days after the results of the election are certified. The county legislative authority is not subject to sanction under RCW 36.70A.330 pending the outcome of a referendum election and any subsequent appeal.
     (2)(a) The county auditor shall: (i) Confer with the county legislative authority and review any proposed referendum under this act as to form and style; (ii) give the referendum proposal a number, which thereafter shall be the identifying number for the measure; (iii) transmit a copy of the proposal to the prosecuting attorney; and (iv) submit the referendum proposal to the people at the next general or special election that is not less than ninety days after the adoption of the referendum ordinance by the county legislative authority.
     (b) The county prosecuting attorney shall within ten working days of receipt of the proposal compose a concise statement, posed as a positive question, not to exceed twenty-five words, which shall express and give a true and impartial statement of the referendum proposal. Such concise statement shall be the ballot title.
     (3) All requests for judicial review following a referendum election shall be initiated by filing a petition directly with the county superior court. The petition must be filed within thirty days after referendum results are certified and shall include a detailed statement of issues presented for resolution by the court. Consistent with the requirements of the superior court civil rules, the superior court may consolidate a petition subject to direct review under this section with a separate action filed in the superior court.
     (4)(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the provisions of RCW 36.70A.280 through 36.70A.330, which specify the nature and extent of board review, shall apply to the superior court's review under this section. The superior court shall retain full subject matter jurisdiction over matters of substantive law not specifically provided for in this section, as provided under the Washington state Constitution. The superior court civil rules shall govern a request for intervention and all other procedural matters not specifically provided for in this section.
     (b) An aggrieved party may secure appellate review of a final judgment of the superior court under this section by the supreme court or the court of appeals. The review shall be secured in the manner provided by law for review of superior court decisions in other civil cases.

Sec. 2   RCW 36.70A.030 and 1997 c 429 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Adopt a comprehensive land use plan" means to enact a new comprehensive land use plan or to update an existing comprehensive land use plan.
     (2) "Agricultural land" means land primarily devoted to the commercial production of horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, dairy, apiary, vegetable, or animal products or of berries, grain, hay, straw, turf, seed, Christmas trees not subject to the excise tax imposed by RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, finfish in upland hatcheries, or livestock, and that has long-term commercial significance for agricultural production.
     (3) "City" means any city or town, including a code city.
     (4) "Comprehensive land use plan," "comprehensive plan," or "plan" means a generalized coordinated land use policy statement of the governing body of a county or city that is adopted pursuant to this chapter.
     (5) "Critical areas" include the following areas and ecosystems: (a) Wetlands; (b) areas with a critical recharging effect on aquifers used for potable water; (c) fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas; (d) frequently flooded areas; and (e) geologically hazardous areas.
     (6) "Department" means the department of community, trade, and economic development.
     (7) "Development regulations" or "regulation" means the controls placed on development or land use activities by a county or city, including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances, critical areas ordinances, shoreline master programs, official controls, planned unit development ordinances, subdivision ordinances, and binding site plan ordinances together with any amendments thereto. A development regulation does not include a decision to approve a project permit application, as defined in RCW 36.70B.020, even though the decision may be expressed in a resolution or ordinance of the legislative body of the county or city.
     (8) "Forest land" means land primarily devoted to growing trees for long-term commercial timber production on land that can be economically and practically managed for such production, including Christmas trees subject to the excise tax imposed under RCW 84.33.100 through 84.33.140, and that has long-term commercial significance. In determining whether forest land is primarily devoted to growing trees for long-term commercial timber production on land that can be economically and practically managed for such production, the following factors shall be considered: (a) The proximity of the land to urban, suburban, and rural settlements; (b) surrounding parcel size and the compatibility and intensity of adjacent and nearby land uses; (c) long-term local economic conditions that affect the ability to manage for timber production; and (d) the availability of public facilities and services conducive to conversion of forest land to other uses.
     (9) "Geologically hazardous areas" means areas that because of their susceptibility to erosion, sliding, earthquake, or other geological events, are not suited to the siting of commercial, residential, or industrial development consistent with public health or safety concerns.
     (10) "Growth management measures" include the decision to be subject to or excluded from the growth management act; the adoption of county-wide planning policies; the designation of critical areas, agricultural lands, forest lands, and mineral resource lands; the adoption of development regulations conserving these designated agricultural lands, forest lands, and mineral resource lands and protecting these designated critical areas; the designation of and other actions related to urban growth areas; the adoption of a comprehensive plan under this chapter; and the adoption of development regulations relating to the comprehensive plan under this chapter; and amendments to these measures.
     (11) "Long-term commercial significance" includes the growing capacity, productivity, and soil composition of the land for long-term commercial production, in consideration with the land's proximity to population areas, and the possibility of more intense uses of the land.
     (((11))) (12) "Minerals" include gravel, sand, and valuable metallic substances.
     (((12))) (13) "Public facilities" include streets, roads, highways, sidewalks, street and road lighting systems, traffic signals, domestic water systems, storm and sanitary sewer systems, parks and recreational facilities, and schools.
     (((13))) (14) "Public services" include fire protection and suppression, law enforcement, public health, education, recreation, environmental protection, and other governmental services.
     (((14))) (15) "Rural character" refers to the patterns of land use and development established by a county in the rural element of its comprehensive plan:
     (a) In which open space, the natural landscape, and vegetation predominate over the built environment;
     (b) That foster traditional rural lifestyles, rural-based economies, and opportunities to both live and work in rural areas;
     (c) That provide visual landscapes that are traditionally found in rural areas and communities;
     (d) That are compatible with the use of the land by wildlife and for fish and wildlife habitat;
     (e) That reduce the inappropriate conversion of undeveloped land into sprawling, low-density development;
     (f) That generally do not require the extension of urban governmental services; and
     (g) That are consistent with the protection of natural surface water flows and ground water and surface water recharge and discharge areas.
     (((15))) (16) "Rural development" refers to development outside the urban growth area and outside agricultural, forest, and mineral resource lands designated pursuant to RCW 36.70A.170. Rural development can consist of a variety of uses and residential densities, including clustered residential development, at levels that are consistent with the preservation of rural character and the requirements of the rural element. Rural development does not refer to agriculture or forestry activities that may be conducted in rural areas.
     (((16))) (17) "Rural governmental services" or "rural services" include those public services and public facilities historically and typically delivered at an intensity usually found in rural areas, and may include domestic water systems, fire and police protection services, transportation and public transit services, and other public utilities associated with rural development and normally not associated with urban areas. Rural services do not include storm or sanitary sewers, except as otherwise authorized by RCW 36.70A.110(4).
     (((17))) (18) "Urban growth" refers to growth that makes intensive use of land for the location of buildings, structures, and impermeable surfaces to such a degree as to be incompatible with the primary use of land for the production of food, other agricultural products, or fiber, or the extraction of mineral resources, rural uses, rural development, and natural resource lands designated pursuant to RCW 36.70A.170. A pattern of more intensive rural development, as provided in RCW 36.70A.070(5)(d), is not urban growth. When allowed to spread over wide areas, urban growth typically requires urban governmental services. "Characterized by urban growth" refers to land having urban growth located on it, or to land located in relationship to an area with urban growth on it as to be appropriate for urban growth.
     (((18))) (19) "Urban growth areas" means those areas designated by a county pursuant to RCW 36.70A.110.
     (((19))) (20) "Urban governmental services" or "urban services" include those public services and public facilities at an intensity historically and typically provided in cities, specifically including storm and sanitary sewer systems, domestic water systems, street cleaning services, fire and police protection services, public transit services, and other public utilities associated with urban areas and normally not associated with rural areas.
     (((20))) (21) "Wetland" or "wetlands" means areas that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland sites, including, but not limited to, irrigation and drainage ditches, grass-lined swales, canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment facilities, farm ponds, and landscape amenities, or those wetlands created after July 1, 1990, that were unintentionally created as a result of the construction of a road, street, or highway. Wetlands may include those artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland areas created to mitigate conversion of wetlands.