S-822                 _______________________________________________

                                         SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 8206

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Senators Vognild, Bluechel, Warnke, Zimmerman, Patterson, Rinehart, Williams and Conner

Read first time 1/19/87 and referred to Committee on Governmental Operations.

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 there shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the state for their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to Article II of the Constitution of the state of Washington by repealing section 4 thereof and amending Article II, section 5 and Article II, section 6 of the state Constitution to read as follows:

Article II, section 4.            Section 4, Article II of the Constitution of the state of Washington is repealed.

Article II, section 5.            ((The next election of the members of the house of representatives after the adoption of this Constitution shall be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, eighteen hundred and ninety, and thereafter, members of the house of representatives shall be elected biennially and their term of office shall be two years; and each election shall be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, unless otherwise changed by law.)) Members of the house of representatives shall be elected for terms of four years with as near to one-half of their number as is mathematically possible retiring every two years.  At the general election to be held on the first Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November 1988, the candidate in each representative district who receives the greatest number of votes shall be elected for a term of four years and thereafter for a term of four years, and at the same election the winning candidate in each representative district who receives the second highest number of votes shall be elected for a term of two years and thereafter for a term of four years.

Elections of the members of the house of representatives shall be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in each even-numbered year unless otherwise changed by law.  Persons elected to the house of representatives shall serve four-year terms unless they vacate the office.

Article II, section 6.            ((After the first election)) The senators shall be elected by single districts of convenient and contiguous territory, ((at the same time and)) in the same manner as members of the house of representatives are required to be elected; and no representative district ((shall)) may be divided in the formation of a senatorial district.  They shall be elected for ((the)) terms of ((four)) six years, ((one-half)) with as near to one-third of their number retiring every two years.  The senatorial districts shall be numbered consecutively, and ((the senators chosen at the first election had by virtue of this Constitution, in odd numbered districts, shall go out of office at the end of the first year; and the senators, elected in the even numbered districts, shall go out of office at the end of the third year)) shall be divided into three groups:  The first group to consist of every first district, the second to consist of every second district, and the third to consist of every third district.  For those districts in which senators are to be elected in 1988 the term of office shall be four years for each district in the first and second groups and six years for each district in the third group; and thereafter in each district the term of office shall be six years.  For those districts in which senators are to be elected in 1990, the term of office shall be four years for each district in the first group and six years for each district in the second and third groups; and thereafter in each district the term of office shall be six years.

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