Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

Government Operations & Elections Committee

HB 2515

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Description: Concerning the treatment of population enumeration data, including exempting it from public inspection and copying.

Sponsors: Representatives Christian, S. Hunt, Kretz and Bergquist; by request of Office of Financial Management.

Brief Summary of Bill

  • Exempts enumeration data from public inspection and copying.

  • Requires the Office of Financial Management to destroy enumeration data after it is used to produce the required population estimates.

Hearing Date: 1/28/14

Staff: Marsha Reilly (786-7135).

Background:

Annexations.

Annexations by cities and towns and annexations by code cities, while governed by separate statutes, share a common requirement for the annexing jurisdiction to determine the resident

population of the territory to be annexed. Actual enumeration must be used to account for the population of territory to be annexed if:Ÿ

An annexing city may always choose to use actual enumeration to determine the population of territory to be annexed.

Population Determinations.

Population determinations made through actual enumeration must be conducted in accordance with the practices and policies, and subject to the approval of, the Office of Financial

Management (OFM), which uses the information supplied through the annexation process in annually calculating the population of all cities and towns in the state. State-shared revenues from the gasoline tax, liquor board profits, and the liquor excise tax are distributed to cities on the basis of population as determined by the OFM. For a city to have its population adjusted for an annexation for purposes of state-shared revenue distributions, the OFM must certify the annexation, after which it notifies the appropriate state agencies of the population change. For purposes of distributing funds based on the population of a county, the population must be determined by the most recent census, population estimate by the OFM, or special county census as certified by the OFM.

Summary of Bill:

Enumeration data collected for the purposes of determining the population: (1) of annexed territory to a code city, or city or town; (2) for a county census; or (3) for allocation of funds or state moneys from any source, are confidential and exempt from public inspection and copying. The OFM must destroy enumeration data after it is used to produce the required population estimates.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

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