BILL REQ. #:  H-2742.5 

Prefiled 01/09/14. Read first time 01/13/14.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations & Elections.

     BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION ASSEMBLED:
     THAT, At the next general election to be held in this state the secretary of state shall submit to the qualified voters of the state for their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to Article II, sections 4 and 6 of the Constitution of the state of Washington to read as follows:

     Article II, section 4. Members of the house of representatives shall be elected in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-nine at the time and in the manner provided by this Constitution, and shall hold their offices for the term of one year and until their successors shall be elected. A member of the house of representatives may serve eight consecutive years, inclusive of any terms served in the senate. After the member's eighth consecutive year in either the house of representatives or the senate, there must be an interruption in service of at least two years before the member is eligible to serve in the house of representatives again. This provision applies to all elections or appointments made after January 1, 2015.

     Article II, section 6. After the first election the senators shall be elected by single districts of convenient and contiguous territory, at the same time and in the same manner as members of the house of representatives are required to be elected; and no representative district shall be divided in the formation of a senatorial district. They shall be elected for the term of four years, one-half of their number retiring every two years. A senator may serve eight consecutive years, inclusive of any term served in the house of representatives. After the senator's eighth consecutive year in either the senate or the house of representatives, there must be an interruption in service of at least two years before the senator is eligible to serve in the senate again. This provision applies to all elections or appointments made after January 1, 2015. The senatorial districts shall be numbered consecutively, and the senators chosen at the first election had by virtue of this Constitution, in odd numbered districts, shall go out of office at the end of the first year; and the senators, elected in the even numbered districts, shall go out of office at the end of the third year.

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this amendment is a single amendment within the meaning of Article XXIII, section 1 of the state Constitution.
The legislature finds that the changes contained in this amendment constitute a single integrated plan for limiting consecutive years in office in the senate and the house of representatives. If this amendment is held to be separate amendments, this joint resolution is void in its entirety and is of no further force and effect.

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause notice of this constitutional amendment to be published at least four times during the four weeks next preceding the election in every legal newspaper in the state.