H-3109.2
HOUSE BILL 2437
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State of Washington | 64th Legislature | 2016 Regular Session |
By Representatives Hudgins, S. Hunt, and Appleton
Read first time 01/13/16. Referred to Committee on State Government.
AN ACT Relating to election year restrictions on state legislators; amending RCW
42.52.185; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the prohibition on the use of public resources for campaign purposes serves an important purpose, but that the period prohibiting state legislators from communicating with constituents at public expense is unnecessary once the election, and the campaign itself, has ended. Furthermore, the delay in constituent outreach after the election only hinders a legislator's ability to quickly and effectively respond to requests and keep the public informed about current state issues. For these reasons, the legislature intends to reduce the prohibition period on constituent communications to the day after the election, in order to allow legislators to actively engage with the public on official legislative business in a timely and effective manner.
Sec. 2. RCW 42.52.185 and 2011 c 60 s 31 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) During the ((twelve-month)) period beginning on December 1st of the year before a general election for a state legislator's election to office and continuing through ((November 30th immediately after)) the ((general)) date of the election, the legislator may not mail, either by regular mail or ((electronic mail)) email, to a constituent at public expense a letter, newsletter, brochure, or other piece of literature, except as follows:
(a) The legislator may mail two mailings of newsletters to constituents. All newsletters within each mailing of newsletters must be identical as to their content but not as to the constituent name or address. One such mailing may be mailed no later than thirty days after the start of a regular legislative session, except that a legislator appointed during a regular legislative session to fill a vacant seat may have up to thirty days from the date of appointment to send out the first mailing. The other mailing may be mailed no later than sixty days after the end of a regular legislative session.
(b) The legislator may mail an individual letter to (i) an individual constituent who has contacted the legislator regarding the subject matter of the letter during the legislator's current term of office; (ii) an individual constituent who holds a governmental office with jurisdiction over the subject matter of the letter; or (iii) an individual constituent who has received an award or honor of extraordinary distinction of a type that is sufficiently infrequent to be noteworthy to a reasonable person, including, but not limited to: (A) An international or national award such as the Nobel prize or the Pulitzer prize; (B) a state award such as Washington scholar; (C) an Eagle Scout award; and (D) a Medal of Honor.
(c) In those cases where constituents have specifically indicated that they would like to be contacted to receive regular or periodic updates on legislative matters, legislators may provide such updates by ((electronic mail)) email throughout the legislative session and up until thirty days from the conclusion of a legislative session.
(2) For purposes of subsection (1) of this section, "legislator" means a legislator who is a "candidate," as defined by RCW
42.17A.005, for any public office.
(3) A violation of this section constitutes use of the facilities of a public office for the purpose of assisting a campaign under RCW
42.52.180.
(4) The house of representatives and senate shall specifically limit expenditures per member for the total cost of mailings. Those costs include, but are not limited to, production costs, printing costs, and postage costs. The limits imposed under this subsection apply only to the total expenditures on mailings per member and not to any categorical cost within the total.
(5) For purposes of this section, persons residing outside the legislative district represented by the legislator are not considered to be constituents, but students, military personnel, or others temporarily employed outside of the district who normally reside in the district are considered to be constituents.
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