S-5177.2  _______________________________________________

                   SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 8218

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature 2000 1st Special Session

By Senators Patterson, Gardner, Kline, Franklin, Kohl‑Welles, Goings, Haugen and T. Sheldon

Read first time 03/16/2000.  Referred to Committee on State & Local Government.

Providing for the secretary of state to be presiding officer of the house of representatives when no party has a majority.

    BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION ASSEMBLED:

    THAT, At the next general election to be held in this state the secretary of state shall submit to the qualified voters of the state for their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to Article II, section 10 of the Constitution of the state of Washington to read as follows:

    Article II, section 10.  Each house shall elect its own officers((; and)).

When the lieutenant governor shall not attend as president, or shall act as governor, the senate shall choose a temporary president.  When presiding, the lieutenant governor shall have the deciding vote in case of an equal division of the senate.

When no candidate for presiding officer of the house of representatives receives a majority vote of the entire membership of the house of representatives, the secretary of state shall serve as presiding officer of the house of representatives.  When presiding, the secretary of state shall have no vote unless the house of representatives is equally divided, including organizational matters and final passage of bills, and shall be counted as a member of the house of representatives for the purpose of determining a majority under Article II, section 22 in such matters.  While acting as presiding officer of the house of representatives, all statutory duties of the presiding officer shall be performed by the secretary of state.

    Article III, section 17.  The secretary of state shall keep a record of the official acts of the legislature, and executive department of the state, and shall, when required, lay the same, and all matters relative thereto, before either branch of the legislature, and shall perform such other duties as shall be assigned him or her by law.  ((He shall receive an annual salary of twenty‑five hundred dollars, which may be increased by the legislature, but shall never exceed three thousand dollars per annum.))

The secretary of state shall be the presiding officer of the house of representatives when authorized by Article II, section 10.

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this amendment is a single amendment within the meaning of Article XXIII, section 1 of the state Constitution.

    The legislature finds that the changes contained in this amendment constitute a single integrated plan for determining the presiding officer for the house of representatives.  If this amendment is held to be separate amendments, this joint resolution is void in its entirety and is of no further force and effect.

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause notice of this constitutional amendment to be published at least four times during the four weeks next preceding the election in every legal newspaper in the state.

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