BILL REQ. #:  H-3765.1 

Prefiled 12/07/09. Read first time 01/11/10.   Referred to Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs.

     AN ACT Relating to local measures' ballot title appeals; and amending RCW 29A.36.090.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 29A.36.090 and 2003 c 111 s 909 are each amended to read as follows:
     If any persons are dissatisfied with the ballot title for a local ballot measure that was formulated by the city attorney or prosecuting attorney preparing the same, they may at any time within ten days from the ((time of the filing of the ballot title)) deadline for filing ballot measures, not including Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, appeal to the superior court of the county where the question is to appear on the ballot, by petition setting forth the measure, the ballot title objected to, their objections to it, and praying for amendment of it. ((The time of the filing of the ballot title, as used in this section in determining the time for appeal, is the time the ballot title is first filed with the county auditor.))
     A copy of the petition on appeal together with a notice that an appeal has been taken shall be served upon the county auditor and the official preparing the ballot title. Upon the filing of the petition on appeal, the court shall immediately, or at the time to which a hearing may be adjourned by consent of the appellants, examine the proposed measure, the ballot title filed, and the objections to it and may hear arguments on it, and shall as soon as possible render its decision and certify to and file with the county auditor a ballot title that it determines will meet the requirements of this chapter. The decision of the superior court is final, and the ballot title or statement so certified will be the established ballot title. The appeal must be heard without cost to either party.