H-2413.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2241

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Representative D. Schmidt

Read first time 03/04/97.  Referred to Committee on Government Administration.

Establishing procedures for organization of new major political parties.

    AN ACT Relating to major political parties; amending RCW 29.01.090; adding a new section to chapter 29.42 RCW; and declaring an emergency.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 29.01.090 and 1977 ex.s. c 329 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:

    "Major political party" means a political party of which at least one nominee for president, vice president, United States senator, or a state-wide office received at least five percent of the total vote cast at the last preceding state general election in an even-numbered year((:  PROVIDED, That any political party qualifying as a major political party under the previous subsection (2) or subsection (3) of this section prior to its 1977 amendment shall retain such status until after the next state general election following June 30, 1977)) at which such an office was on the ballot.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 29.42 RCW to read as follows:

    A new major political party that was not a major political party before the last state general election held in an even-numbered year shall not exercise the powers of a major political party until it has organized as follows:

    (1) A county central committee must be organized at a convention in each county of the state.  Notice of the convention must be published each week for at least two weeks before the convention in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, with the last date of publication not more than ten days nor less than three days before the date of the convention.  The notice must specify the date, time, and place of the convention, and indicate that precinct committee officers and the county central committee of the party will be elected at the convention.

    Any registered voter residing in the county may appear and participate at the convention.  The first order of business at the convention will be the election of a precinct committee officer from each precinct in the county, where only registered voters residing in the precinct may participate in this election.  The elected precinct committee officers shall elect a county central committee.

    (2) The newly elected county central committee of each county shall hold a meeting to organize and elect one committeeman and one committeewoman to be part of the state committee at its organizational meeting.

    (3) The state committee shall hold an organizational meeting on or before July 31st in the year after the even-year general election at which the political party became a major political party.  The organizational meeting must be held for the purposes specified under RCW 29.42.020, including the election of a chair and vice-chair.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.

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