Washington State

House of Representatives

Office of Program Research

BILL

ANALYSIS

State Government Committee

HB 2477

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

Allows any candidate for elected office to submit a filing fee petition in lieu of paying a filing fee.
Permits a candidate for whom a filing fee petition has been rejected due to a lack of valid signatures to either submit a supplemental petition containing the necessary signatures or pay a filing fee equal to the number of necessary signatures.

Background:

Declarations of Candidacy

Any person who wishes to run for elected office must file a declaration of candidacy. The Secretary of State (SOS) is the filing officer for candidacy declarations for statewide office, congressional office, state legislative office, the court of appeals, and the superior court when the district covers two or more counties. All other candidacy declarations are filed with the county auditor. Candidates may file declarations of candidacy electronically. Declarations of candidacy filings are accepted during the week that is two weeks before Memorial Day.

Filing Fee Petitions

Candidates must pay a filing fee of $10 for any office with a fixed annual salary of $1,000 or less. All other offices require a filing fee equal to one percent of the annual salary of the office. A candidate who lacks sufficient assets or income to pay the required fee may instead submit a filing fee petition. The petition must contain the number of signatures of registered voters equal to the amount of the filing fee. Filing fee petitions must be signed by hand and submitted in hard copy. A filing fee petition may be rejected if it is not in the proper form, has insufficient signatures, or is not submitted on time.

Summary of Bill:

Any candidate may submit with his or her declaration of candidacy a filing fee petition in lieu of paying the filing fee.

If the petition contains at least 95 percent of the needed valid signatures and is rejected by the filing officer for insufficient signatures, the filing officer must notify the candidate of the rejection and include the number of rejected signatures in that notice. Within 14 days of the notice, the candidate may either submit a supplemental petition with the remaining necessary signatures or pay a filing fee equal to the number of rejected signatures identified in the notice.