BILL REQ. #:  S-0534.1 

Read first time 01/18/11.   Referred to Committee on Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections.

     AN ACT Relating to changing the initiative and referendum filing fees; amending RCW 29A.72.010; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that between the years 2000 and 2005, three hundred twenty-six initiatives were filed with the secretary of state's office and twenty-one initiatives were certified to the ballot. Each initiative filed requires the state to invest, at a minimum, the time and resources to process the filed initiative in the secretary of state's office and allow the code reviser to review draft initiatives for errors, review for potential conflict with existing statutes, and prepare a certificate of review for the initiative sponsor. Additionally, the secretary of state's office assigns a serial number to all initiatives and forwards the initiative to the attorney general for formulation of the ballot title and summary. After an initiative sponsor obtains and submits signatures, the secretary of state must check the signatures to ascertain whether there are sufficient signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The legislature finds that the current initiative filing fee of five dollars, which was set decades ago, is insufficient to offset the administrative costs involved in the initiative process. Therefore, to more adequately provide for the administrative costs involved in the initiative process, it is the intent of the legislature to increase the initiative filing fee. The filing fee shall be refunded in part upon the initiative being certified by the secretary of state for the general election ballot.

Sec. 2   RCW 29A.72.010 and 2003 c 111 s 1802 are each amended to read as follows:
     If any legal voter of the state, either individually or on behalf of an organization, desires to petition the legislature to enact a proposed measure, or submit a proposed initiative measure to the people, or order that a referendum of all or part of any act, bill, or law, passed by the legislature be submitted to the people, he or she shall file with the secretary of state a legible copy of the measure proposed, or the act or part of such act on which a referendum is desired, accompanied by an affidavit that the sponsor is a legal voter and a filing fee ((prescribed under RCW 43.07.120)) of five hundred dollars. If the measure is certified by the secretary of state for the general election ballot, the sponsor shall receive a refund of four hundred fifty dollars. Any sponsor who lacks sufficient assets or income at the time of filing to pay the filing fee required by this section shall submit at least one thousand valid signatures of registered voters in order to be exempt from the filing fee.