Twelve amendments to County Charter put before King County Council for ballot consideration

Sept. 19 deadline for Council to place any measures on November ballot

Related information: Read the final report and recommendations of the Charter Review Commission (PDF, 6 MB) Read the motion adopted by the Council.

Every ten years, a citizen commission reviews the King County Charter and recommends charter amendments for the King County Council to place before voters to update the County’s “constitution.” This is one of those years, and this morning the Council received 12 proposed amendments for consideration for the November general election ballot.

After holding 55 meetings over more than a year, members of the 2007-2008 King County Charter Review Commission today presented their final report and recommendations to the Council’s Committee of the Whole.

“The people of King County have been well-served by the hard work the Charter Review Commission has put into this set of proposed amendments,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine, chair of the Committee of the Whole. “The Council will carefully review these proposals and make a final decision as to which amendments will go before the voters this fall.”

“The charter is the foundation of our strong democracy and has served the citizens of King County and their government well for nearly four decades,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “The Charter Review Commission undertook a thorough, thoughtful and inclusive effort to consider needed updates of the charter, and I look forward to reviewing its recommendations.”

“The charter review process in an important practice in our county and there are major issues being dealt with in these twelve proposed amendments from the Charter Review Commission,” said Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer, whose district is hosting a Council Town Hall meeting June 16 on the Commission’s recommendations. “I look forward to hearing feedback from County residents and I hope that many take the opportunity to attend our upcoming Town Hall meeting in Federal Way to let their voices be heard.”

The County Council has until September 19 to decide which of the Commission’s proposed amendments, if any, to place on the November ballot. The Council may choose to take no action or defer action on any amendment until a future general election, and in fact the Commission proposed a schedule for phasing in its proposed amendments over the next three general elections.
“Many of the issues brought forth by the Commission continue to be debated, and then will be presented to the citizens,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert of Redmond. “The charter is our constitution, and it needs to be updated to meet the growing needs of our county.”

“The proposed recommendations are a reflection of concerns raised by citizens at public hearings over the last year,” said Councilmember Larry Gossett. “The Council must now consider which of these recommendations we want to send to all of the voters of King County. The Charter Review Commission gave us solid information to work with as we make our decision.”

“The proposed amendments affect how King County government works for its citizens, which is why we’ll take the next few months to seriously review the recommendations and decide which proposals to put before the voters,” said Councilmember Bob Ferguson.

The ten substantive amendments proposed by the Charter Review Commission are, in alphabetical order:

• Anti-Discrimination: Prohibit discrimination based on disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression in county employment and contracting.

• 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.

• 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.

• Commission Procedures: Clarify the Commission appointment and confirmation process, and require the County Council to review all charter review commission recommendations and decide at an open public meeting how to proceed on each recommendation.

• Elections Deadlines: Authorize the county to establish deadlines by ordinance for submitting local ballot measures to the Elections Division.

• Elected Officials and Collective Bargaining: Require the Executive to provide for increased involvement of separately elected county officials, including the Sheriff, in collective bargaining.

• Open Space Protection: Establish additional protection for over 100,000 acres of open space properties in which the county owns an interest.

• Qualifications: Permit the council to establish additional qualifications for separately elected officials who head charter-based departments.

• 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.

• Unincorporated Areas Representation: Designate a high-level position within the Office of the Executive to represent the interests of rural and urban unincorporated area residents, and amend the Charter Preamble to reflect the county's commitment to unincorporated areas.

The Commission also recommended two non-substantive, technical charter amendments:

• Budget Allotments: Remove the outdated requirement that county agencies submit estimates of spending to the Executive.

• Transitory Provisions: Remove obsolete charter language pertaining to the County’s transition to a home rule charter government and consolidation with Metro.

Testimony today was led by Commission co-chairs Mike Lowry and Lois North, both of whom are former County Councilmembers. North was one of the freeholders who wrote the original charter. Voters who adopted the County Charter in 1968 provided for a citizen commission to be assembled every 10 years to review and propose charter updates to the County Council. The King County Charter is the foundation of county government and serves a role similar to that played by the U.S. Constitution.

The Council will continue its review of the proposed charter amendments with a special Town Hall meeting in Federal Way on Monday, June 16. The Town Hall, a special meeting of the Council’s Committee of the Whole, will be held at the Federal Way Community Center in the Community Room, 876 S. 333rd Street, Federal Way. The public is invited to meet face-to-face with King County Councilmembers at an informal reception starting at 6:00 p.m. The Town Hall will begin at 6:30 p.m.