Monday, July 14, 2008

At today’s Council meeting, councilmembers:
Adopted five proposed amendments to the King County Charter for placement on the November general election ballot. These proposed charter amendments relate to:
• Anti-Discrimination: Elevating to Charter status the existing prohibition in the King County Code against discrimination based on disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression in county employment and contracting – joining such other prohibited grounds as sex, race, religion and age (Ordinance 2008-0358).
• Regional Committees: Reduce the number of County Councilmembers on regional committees, establish a vice-chair position to be filled by a non-Council member; and increase the authority of committees to initiate legislation and, in the case of the Regional Policy Committee, to adopt its own work program, including new subject matter which involves regional policies or plans (Ordinance 2008-0359).
• Qualifications: Permit the council to establish additional qualifications for separately elected officials who head charter-based departments (Ordinance 2008-0360).
• Economic Forecasts: Establish an economic forecasting council for King County and an Office of Economic and Financial Analysis (Ordinance 2008-0362).
• Budget Timeline: Provide the County Council with an additional 20 days to review the Executive's proposed budget, providing a total of 65 days for review. (Ordinance 2008-0363).

Members held for one week one proposed amendment to the charter:
• Charter Amendment by Citizen Initiative: Clarify the process by which citizens may amend the charter through initiative, and increase the signature threshold to 20 percent (Ordinance 2008-0361).

Read more about the legislation on the King County Council’s LEGISEARCH system
and entering the item numbers above.