S-5411               _______________________________________________

                                   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8438

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1990 Regular Session

By Senators Talmadge, Gaspard and Fleming

Read first time 3/20/90 and referred to Committee on Governmental Operations.

WHEREAS, The legislative process is enhanced by having more citizens participate in government decision making; and

          WHEREAS, The legislature is more frequently perceived as being less accessible, both politically and geographically, to the average citizen; and

          WHEREAS, States such as North Carolina have greatly increased government participation by its citizenry by establishing a state television network similar to the national c-span channel; and

          WHEREAS, Technology has made it possible to open the government process to thousands of citizens who otherwise have no voice in their state government; and

WHEREAS, A continuing objective of the legislature is to provide Washington state citizens with information about the decisions being made during the legislative session; and

          WHEREAS, An increased awareness on the part of the citizenry will result in greater participation by the citizenry, thereby improving our public policy process; and

          WHEREAS, Television and print media coverage of the Washington state legislature is critical to increased citizen awareness; and

          WHEREAS, The Washington state legislature believes that an informed and involved citizenry results in a higher quality of public policy decisions; and

          WHEREAS, Public policy decisions on taxation, environment, criminal justice, health and welfare of children, and other crucial issues are made in the legislature and effect the lives of each Washington state citizen;

          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, By the senate of the state of Washington, the house of representatives concurring, that, a bipartisan task force be established whose mandate will be exploration of the broadcasting of legislative activities such as committee hearings, floor activity, and special activities; and

          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the task force report its findings and recommendations to the legislature at the regular session held in 1991.