BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to citizen participation in the discussion of public issues; adding new sections to chapter 43.63A RCW; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The legislature recognizes that:

(a) Government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. All citizens who are interested should be enabled to participate and exercise their rights of freedom of speech, assembly, petition, and the right to be heard in order to celebrate, evaluate, and enhance the social, educational, and economic climates of our state in the future, and enhance the credibility of our political processes.

(b) In a democracy a primary role of citizens is to contribute their opinions, respond to the opinions of other citizens, and respond to the queries of their leaders on issues that are of interest and concern to all. Yet communication between the people and their leaders has remained difficult and elusive. Present social processes with primary reliance upon people attending big meetings at often remote distances are usually beyond the time and energy levels of most citizens. There is growing recognition that this is a severe burden to the democratic process. Communication at such big meetings is often frustrating to both leaders and people because time allows only a few people to talk while most can only listen. Efforts to pass resolutions and amendments or move toward consensus in such traditional legislative contexts is often an emotionally draining experience for all. The result is that many people drop out of such inadequate meetings and do not participate sufficiently in their public and organizational planning processes. Lack of adequate participation by citizens devitalizes our public and private organizations and institutions and is frequently and erroneously diagnosed as "apathy" among the people.

(c) Our state has been identified as one of five precursor states in social innovation (Megatrends, John Naisbitt, 1982, Warner Books, New York). For example, we were the only state that emerged from the bicentennial celebration in 1976 with a recommendation and funding by its commission for an ongoing program to better enable citizen volunteers to participate in the public planning processes of government C a subtle but significant difference from the volunteerism for physical service enacted by several other state commissions.

(d) The need now is to create a workable, essentially self-funded, network of citizens for the benefit of governments through use of new means of "many-to-many" mass communication in our state as a whole: (i) To enhance public information through citizenship education, and (ii) to serve as a bridge for feedback communication between people and leaders. Present methods of citizen-government communication including public hearings and traditional "one-to-many" communication such as television, radio, and newspapers obtain public information from governments through traditional news releases that are often piecemeal and insufficient to arrive at the public consensus needed for more effective governance. Further, societal processes that permit citizens to participate responsibly and meaningfully within their time and energy levels in the viable discussion of public issues with results returned routinely to leaders are nearly nonexistent.

(2) The legislature further recognizes that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and the pursuit of happiness is a right of the people and a purpose of governments. Governments are not charged with providing their citizens with all the amenities of life they feel are required for their happiness, but governments are charged with enabling their citizens to pursue their own happiness. Increased opportunities by citizens to meet and receive information, reflect and discuss information, and respond as a sounding board with their advisory opinions to their leaders, both public and private, is an important exercise of their constitutional rights and right to be heard. In turn, exercise of these rights is an important factor in the transfer of authority from people to their leaders and in fostering domestic and economic tranquility in a search for solutions to increasingly complex societal and economic problems. The credibility of government and political relationships is enhanced.

(3) It is the intent of the legislature to facilitate public and private planning and decision-making processes and to strengthen the functioning of democracy in the state of Washington by widening channels of communication and fostering more positive relationships between citizens and public and private institutions. The legislature proposes a structure whereby any small group of eight to twelve citizens meeting at times and places convenient to themselves may receive public information and queries on issues and communicate back to officials, themselves, and the public-at-large their advisory opinions on those issues. It is the intent of the legislature to create a climate in which citizens can act responsibly within their abilities of time and energy to influence decisions affecting their lives and future in Washington state. In short, it is necessary to supplement traditional government processes to facilitate the ability of citizens to participate meaningfully and conveniently in the planning processes of government that affect their lives.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The office of citizen councilor is created in accordance with section 13 of this act. Any citizen registered to vote may become a citizen councilor on request by sending a letter to the department of community development or calling a special toll-free number. Citizen councilors shall act collectively as official advisors and a sounding board for public officials and agencies, legislative study committees, and the department of community development on issues of public interest or concern. Conveners of citizen councilor groups shall be those designated by the citizen councilor coordinator from among citizen councilors who volunteer to host a group. Every effort shall be made to assign citizen councilors to a group that meets at a convenient time and place. Meetings will usually be in residence or work area zip codes. Citizen councilors may participate:

(1) In a citizen councilor organizational group under section 8 of this act;

(2) In a citizen councilor group usually organized by residence or work area zip code with the assistance of the citizen councilor coordinator; or

(3) As an individual if the individual is unable to attend meetings in groups due to age, disability, or remote location.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. The department of community development:

(1) Shall determine suggested issues for public discussion from suggestions received from public officials, agencies, legislators, and individual citizen councilors and recommend an appropriate issue or issues for consideration by citizen councilors to a steering committee. The steering committee shall be composed of four voting members: One member of the minority and one member of the majority party from each house of the legislature. Other nonvoting members of the steering committee shall be: (a) A representative from the governor's office, (b) a representative from the superintendent of public instruction, (c) a representative from any organization participating with over fifty groups of eight to twelve persons under section 5(7) of this act, and (d) the citizen councilor coordinator selected as provided in section 4 of this act;

(2) After approval by the legislative members of the steering committee, shall assign the issue or issues approved for discussion to the volunteer citizen councilor coordinator for preparation and implementation by value reporters and others. Value reporters assigned to gather information on issues shall be careful to present all issues as evenhandedly as possible, taking care to present the generally prevailing viewpoints surrounding an issue or issues from experts, officials, and others in an effort to provide the public with information needed for discussion. Value reporters shall conduct interviews of experts, officials, and others to solicit their various viewpoints and record such interviews on audio or video tape for later reproduction and distribution to citizen councilor groups. Before any materials are released to citizen councilor groups, however, persons interviewed and taped shall approve their taped interview for release or complete another interview to their satisfaction, otherwise their statement shall not be included in materials sent to citizens;

(3) Shall approve the public information materials prepared by the citizen councilor coordinator and authorize its distribution to citizen councilors.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The office of citizen councilor coordinator is created within the department of community development. The director of community development shall appoint the citizen councilor coordinator with the advice and consent of the board of directors of the Washington state center for volunteerism and citizen service. The citizen councilor coordinator shall serve at the pleasure of the director of community development, until terminated with the approval of the board of directors of the Washington state center for volunteerism and citizen service, and shall be a volunteer and serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for actual expenses incurred in carrying out his or her duties under sections 1 through 13 of this act as funds are available.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The citizen councilor coordinator shall:

(1) Promote to the citizens of the state the citizen councilor program and its contribution to public and private planning processes;

(2) Oversee preparation, tabulation, summarization, and dissemination of data and information by the volunteer staff;

(3) Receive, on behalf of the citizen councilor revolving fund, gifts and donations of real or personal property, including cash and in-kind services;

(4) Hire a value reporter and other paid staff to assist the volunteer staff if funds are available;

(5) Contract for any services including without limitation toll-free telephone number and answering services, keypunch, computer, scanning, recording, reporting, consulting, printing, and mailing to carry out this chapter as long as the providers of these services either work without financial compensation or are unrelated to the citizen councilor coordinator;

(6) Solicit volunteers to assist in administering the program from community service, educational, civic, business, religious, and other organizations;

(7) Solicit citizen councilor groups from existing organizations;

(8) Solicit individual citizen councilors to participate in local groups organized by mutual convenience usually within the same residence or work zip code area;

(9) Assign value reporters to interview scholars, experts, public officials, planners, leaders, and others on tape concerning topics of discussion assigned by the department of community development;

(10) Produce audio or video cassette tapes, or both, and printed materials evenhandedly;

(11) Mail public information materials to citizen councilor conveners or individual citizen councilors, or both;

(12) Provide, at cost, group mailing labels of its own conveners on request of an organization participating or to a county, municipality, or school district if a private iteration of their own constituents is desired at their own time and expense;

(13) Scan or tabulate, or both, citizen councilor response sheets using, as appropriate, the "Fast Forum" computer program that is available without cost to the citizen councilor program and the University of Washington academic computing services as a nonprofit, external user;

(14) Mail organizational, community, school, business, or church profiles to the leaders of such participating organizations for their information and without cost when they have over fifty groups responding state-wide;

(15) Prepare summary reports of data generated and press releases;

(16) Mail summary reports and other information to all citizen councilors, conveners, participating organizations, and to those public officials who have indicated to the citizen councilor coordinator that they are interested; and

(17) Maintain data generated for public and media reference in the department of community development.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. State officials, agencies, and the legislature and their staffs shall actively cooperate and participate with the department of community development and the citizen councilor coordinator staff in the posing of issues and preparation of materials for citizen councilor consideration.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. The citizen councilor coordinator shall actively encourage citizen councilor groups to form throughout the state. Citizen councilor groups shall usually consist of a minimum of eight and a maximum of twelve regularly assigned members and meet on call of their convener at times and places they deem most appropriate during a thirty-day or other designated time period. Citizen councilor groups shall normally meet three or four times per year on state issues. They shall have the opportunity to listen to audio or video tapes articulating an issue of public interest or concern and study other materials prepared or authorized as described in section 3 of this act. Citizen councilors shall have the opportunity to respond anonymously making their opinions known on individual mark-sense response sheets for return to the citizen councilor coordinator for keypunching or optical scanning, tabulation, and analysis.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Eight through twelve citizens from organizations such as, but not limited to, community, civic, associations, cooperatives, unions, church, business, or school district groups may enroll as an organizational group with their own convener designated. An organizational profile report shall be provided the leaders of organizations with fifty or more groups without cost to inform them of how their members responded to public issues posed or approved by the department of community development and shall be open to public inspection in the offices of the department of community development. If additional profiles or services are requested by an organization of its own constituents, the policy, rules, and fees to cover such costs shall be as determined by the citizen councilor coordinator. Organizations with fifty or more groups may purchase mailing labels of their group conveners at cost and prepare and mail their own group materials for tabulation at their own effort and expense. This data shall not be tabulated by the citizen councilor coordinator and shall not be combined with the public data nor available for public inspection at the department of community development.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Governmental units such as counties, municipalities, and others may purchase mailing labels of conveners, including organizational conveners, if they wish to use the network of citizen councilors in their general geographical areas. Counties can obtain mailing labels of conveners within their county; municipalities and others can obtain mailing labels of conveners within specific zip codes. They then can request participation from such groups using their own materials for tabulation at their own effort and expense. The citizen councilor coordinator may authorize use of the volunteer staff to advise or assist in such projects if volunteers are available.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 10. Because of the strong citizenship education component under sections 1 through 13 of this act, school districts are encouraged to organize organizational groups of parents under section 8 of this act and obtain a packet of material prepared by the citizen councilor coordinator for high school social studies teachers. Students can listen to the tape, study and discuss the material, and hand-tabulate the percentage responses of their own class to the objective questions posed. When the congressional profile reports are returned, students can compare similarities and differences individually and as a class with those responses of their parents and citizens state-wide to widen the discussion. Tolerance of diversity of opinion and a respect for the opinions of others, which is essential in a democracy, is fostered through constructive class discussions in psychosocial education and critical thinking. Citizenship education is itself vital to the full functioning of the democratic institutions in which we all participate. The goal is to make all students aware of the responsibilities of citizenship and to communicate that: "You are an important part of society. You, your opinions, and the reasons behind them will shape the future." If the citizen councilor coordinator determines that sufficient funds are available, student opinions may be tabulated state-wide for student comparison with the opinions of citizen councilors.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 11. Each citizen councilor shall be asked to make donations from time to time to help cover the costs of the citizen councilor program. It is also the intention of the legislature that donations and gifts be solicited from public-spirited individuals, businesses, and foundations for the purpose of funding the program. However, since all costs of this program are provided by donations with no funds from public sources, the citizen councilor coordinator shall use his or her discretion in determining the scale and the scope of the program so that expenses do not exceed available funds.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 12. A citizen councilor revolving fund is created and shall consist of donations collected under this chapter and any moneys appropriated to it by law for specific purposes. The state treasurer shall be custodian of the revolving fund. Disbursements from the revolving fund shall be on authorization of the citizen councilor coordinator. In order to maintain an effective expenditure and revenue control, the citizen councilor revolving fund shall be subject in all respects to chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required to permit expenditures and payment of obligations from the fund.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 13. (1) The department of community development may provide the citizen councilor coordinator and his or her volunteer staff with space in existing offices and with clerical services from existing staff to assist in establishing and conducting the citizen councilor program. Appropriations are not required, but the director of community development may consider the services provided under this section in submitting the department's budget.

(2) The citizen councilor coordinator shall seek to obtain donations from citizen councilor organizational groups, citizen councilors, and public-spirited individuals, community service organizations, businesses, and foundations to cover the costs of the program. When ten thousand dollars in donations have been received, the department of community development shall authorize the citizen councilor coordinator to establish a toll-free telephone number and answering service and to develop a list of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of persons and groups interested in serving as citizen councilors, citizen councilor conveners, or citizen councilor organizational groups, or in making donations. When forty thousand dollars in donations have been received, the citizen councilor coordinator may initiate the new communication process contemplated in sections 1 through 13 of this act and continue it at a scope and scale that is supportable by the resources available.

(3) In the event the program under this chapter fails to support itself and is terminated by the department of community development or expires, funds remaining after payment of all outstanding expenses and disposal of equipment and supplies owned shall be deposited in the general fund.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 14. Sections 1 through 13 of this act shall expire June 30, 1997.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 15. Sections 1 through 13 of this act are each added to chapter 43.63A RCW.