BILL REQ. #: S-0179.1
State of Washington | 63rd Legislature | 2013 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/18/13. Referred to Committee on Governmental Operations .
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, section 1 of the Constitution of the state of Washington to
read as follows:
Article II, section 1. The legislative authority of the state of
Washington shall be vested in the legislature, consisting of a senate
and house of representatives, which shall be called the legislature of
the state of Washington, but the people reserve to themselves the power
to propose bills, laws, and to enact or reject the same at the polls,
independent of the legislature, and also reserve power, at their own
option, to approve or reject at the polls any act, item, section, or
part of any bill, act, or law passed by the legislature.
(a) Initiative: The first power reserved by the people is the
initiative. Every such petition shall include the full text of the
measure so proposed. In the case of initiatives to the legislature and
initiatives to the people, the number of valid signatures of legal
voters required shall be equal to eight percent of the votes cast for
the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election preceding the
initial filing of the text of the initiative measure with the secretary
of state.
Initiative petitions shall be filed with the secretary of state not
less than four months before the election at which they are to be voted
upon, or not less than ten days before any regular session of the
legislature. If filed at least four months before the election at
which they are to be voted upon, he shall submit the same to the vote
of the people at the said election. If such petitions are filed not
less than ten days before any regular session of the legislature, he
shall certify the results within forty days of the filing. If
certification is not complete by the date that the legislature
convenes, he shall provisionally certify the measure pending final
certification of the measure. Such initiative measures, whether
certified or provisionally certified, shall take precedence over all
other measures in the legislature except appropriation bills and shall
be either enacted or rejected without change or amendment by the
legislature before the end of such regular session. If any such
initiative measures shall be enacted by the legislature it shall be
subject to the referendum petition, or it may be enacted and referred
by the legislature to the people for approval or rejection at the next
regular election. If it is rejected or if no action is taken upon it
by the legislature before the end of such regular session, the
secretary of state shall submit it to the people for approval or
rejection at the next ensuing regular general election. The
legislature may reject any measure so proposed by initiative petition
and propose a different one dealing with the same subject, and in such
event both measures shall be submitted by the secretary of state to the
people for approval or rejection at the next ensuing regular general
election. When conflicting measures are submitted to the people the
ballots shall be so printed that a voter can express separately by
making one cross (X) for each, two preferences, first, as between
either measure and neither, and secondly, as between one and the other.
If the majority of those voting on the first issue is for neither, both
fail, but in that case the votes on the second issue shall nevertheless
be carefully counted and made public. If a majority voting on the
first issue is for either, then the measure receiving a majority of the
votes on the second issue shall be law.
(b) Referendum. The second power reserved by the people is the
referendum, and it may be ordered on any act, bill, law, or any part
thereof passed by the legislature, except such laws as may be necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety,
support of the state government and its existing public institutions,
either by petition signed by the required percentage of the legal
voters, or by the legislature as other bills are enacted((: Provided,
That)). The legislature may not order a referendum on any initiative
measure enacted by the legislature under the foregoing subsection (a).
The number of valid signatures of registered voters required on a
petition for referendum of an act of the legislature or any part
thereof, shall be equal to or exceeding four percent of the votes cast
for the office of governor at the last gubernatorial election preceding
the filing of the text of the referendum measure with the secretary of
state. A determination that an act, bill, law, or any part thereof is
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or
safety, or support of the state government and its existing public
institutions must be executed in the form of an amendment declaring
such and the amendment must be approved by an affirmative vote of sixty
percent of the members of each house of the legislature, except that an
appropriation bill authorizing expenditures for operating, capital, or
transportation purposes is exempt from this requirement.
(c) No act, law, or bill subject to referendum shall take effect
until ninety days after the adjournment of the session at which it was
enacted. No act, law, or bill approved by a majority of the electors
voting thereon shall be amended or repealed by the legislature within
a period of two years following such enactment: Provided, That any
such act, law, or bill may be amended within two years after such
enactment at any regular or special session of the legislature by a
vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house with full
compliance with section 12, Article III, of the Washington
Constitution, and no amendatory law adopted in accordance with this
provision shall be subject to referendum. But such enactment may be
amended or repealed at any general regular or special election by
direct vote of the people thereon.
(d) The filing of a referendum petition against one or more items,
sections, or parts of any act, law, or bill shall not delay the
remainder of the measure from becoming operative. Referendum petitions
against measures passed by the legislature shall be filed with the
secretary of state not later than ninety days after the final
adjournment of the session of the legislature which passed the measure
on which the referendum is demanded. The veto power of the governor
shall not extend to measures initiated by or referred to the people.
All elections on measures referred to the people of the state shall be
had at the next succeeding regular general election following the
filing of the measure with the secretary of state, except when the
legislature shall order a special election. Any measure initiated by
the people or referred to the people as herein provided shall take
effect and become the law if it is approved by a majority of the votes
cast thereon: Provided, That the vote cast upon such question or
measure shall equal one-third of the total votes cast at such election
and not otherwise. Such measure shall be in operation on and after the
thirtieth day after the election at which it is approved. The style of
all bills proposed by initiative petition shall be: "Be it enacted by
the people of the State of Washington." This section shall not be
construed to deprive any member of the legislature of the right to
introduce any measure. All such petitions shall be filed with the
secretary of state, who shall be guided by the general laws in
submitting the same to the people until additional legislation shall
especially provide therefor. This section is self-executing, but
legislation may be enacted especially to facilitate its operation.
(e) The legislature shall provide methods of publicity of all laws
or parts of laws, and amendments to the Constitution referred to the
people with arguments for and against the laws and amendments so
referred. The secretary of state shall send one copy of the
publication to each individual place of residence in the state and
shall make such additional distribution as he shall determine necessary
to reasonably assure that each voter will have an opportunity to study
the measures prior to election.
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.