SENATE BILL REPORT
SB 5020
BYSenators McCaslin, Lee, West and Stratton
Authorizing creation of five-member board of county commissioners.
Senate Committee on Governmental Operations
Senate Hearing Date(s):January 22, 1987
Majority Report: That Substitute Senate Bill No. 5020 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.
Signed by Senators Halsan, Chairman; Garrett, Vice Chairman; DeJarnatt, McCaslin, Talmadge, Zimmerman.
Senate Staff:Sam Thompson (786-7754); Eugene Green (786-7405)
January 23, 1987
AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS, JANUARY 22, 1987
BACKGROUND:
Boards of county commissioners are comprised of three members, two of whom constitute a quorum to do business. They are nominated in primary elections by voters within county commissioner districts, but must run in the county at large in a general election. Each county commissioner district is represented by one commissioner. Commissioners are elected to staggered four-year terms; no more than two positions are up for election at one time.
Under home rule charters, a number of counties have opted for county legislative authorities of more than three members. The county legislative authority members may be both nominated and elected from districts, rather than elected in the county at large.
It has been suggested that populous noncharter counties should be enabled to expand to a larger board of commissioners, with each member of the board more accountable to a single district within the county.
SUMMARY:
A noncharter county with a population greater than 210,000 (i.e., class A or AA counties) may expand to a five-member board of county commissioners. The expansion may be accomplished by resolution of the existing board of commissioners. It may also be accomplished upon majority voter approval of a ballot proposition. Under the latter alternative, a proposition would appear on a general election ballot if at least 10 percent of the voters voting at the last general election petitioned for the proposition.
The members of the five-member commissioner board would, in both cases, be nominated and elected solely by the voters of their commissioner districts. Three members of the board would constitute a quorum to do business.
Once the five-member board of commissioners is approved, the existing board has three months to create the five new commissioner districts. No two existing commissioners may reside in (represent) the same district. If the district lines have not been created within three months, the prosecuting attorney of the county is directed to petition the superior court to appoint a court official to designate the districts. The court official will then have approximately two months to draw the district lines.
If the districts are created by June 1, commissioners for the new positions four and five will be elected at that year's general election. If the five county commissioner districts are created after June 1, the election of commissioners to the new positions takes place at the next succeeding general election.
The terms of the persons who are initially elected to positions four and five are two years and four years, respectively, if the election is in an even-numbered year. If the election comes in an odd-numbered year, the terms are one year for the position four commissioner and three years for the position five commissioner. Thereafter, commissioners for the new positions are to be elected for the usual four-year terms.
A vacancy-filling procedure paralleling the current provision for three-member boards is established. If the five-member board has three or more vacancies, the Governor appoints members until there are three commissioners. Whenever there are two vacancies, the three members fill one position. The four commissioners fill the last vacancy.
Fiscal Note: none requested
EFFECT OF PROPOSED SUBSTITUTE:
The change in the proposed substitute bill is technical.
Senate Committee - Testified: Representative Mike Padden; Gary Lowe, Washington State Association of Counties