Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

State Government Committee

HB 1942

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

Brief Summary of Bill

Requires the filing of a voter initiated ballot measure to include a $50 filing fee, or a $5 fee along with 500 signatures, and information of any entity using paid signature gathers for the petition.
Creates an account to receive funds from voter initiated ballot measure filing fees to be used for processing ballot measures.

Background:

Any voter may initiate a ballot measure to petition the Legislature to enact a proposed measure, submit a proposed initiative to the people, or order a referendum to the people on a law passed by the Legislature. The proponent must file a proposal with the Secretary of State along with an affidavit that he or she is a legal voter and a filing fee, as established by rule.

The Code Reviser must review a proposed initiative measure and make advisory recommendations to the sponsor regarding the revision or alteration of the measure as needed and appropriate. Upon completing review, the Code Reviser must certify that the review is completed and that any recommendations have been communicated to the sponsor. The certificate must be issued regardless of whether or not the sponsor has agreed to any of the recommendations. The sponsor must file the proposed initiative measure along with the Code Reviser's certificate of review to the Secretary of State's office for assignment of a serial number and official processing.

After the Secretary of State has issued a serial number, the proponent must obtain the signature of legal voters equal to at least 8 percent of all votes cast at the last election for the Office of the Governor. The Secretary of State must verify the signatures, and if sufficient, certify the measure for inclusion in the next election.

Summary of Bill:

At the time of initially filing a proposed measure, the proponent of the measure must provide the Secretary of State the following information:

the sponsor's name, address, and phone number;
the name and address of any entity that will be using paid signature gatherers, and the unified business identifier number of the entity; and
any other information deemed necessary by the Secretary of State.

The filing fee for any proposed measure is $50, or $5 along with 500 registered voters. A sponsor who files multiple measures on the same general topic, as determined by the Secretary of State, must pay $100 per measure in addition to the initial filing fee.

The Secretary of State may not assign a serial number to measure if the filing fee has not been paid, and the sponsor has not provided the current unified business identifier number for an entity gathering signatures.

The ballot measure account is created to receive funds from the filing fees imposed for proposing a ballot measure. The Secretary of State may use the account funds to offset costs related to processing ballot measures. An appropriation is not required for expenditures from the account.