County council places five proposed amendments on ballot

Five proposed amendments to the King County Charter were placed on the November general election ballot Monday, July 14 by the Metropolitan King County Council.

“These proposed amendments are the culmination of two years of discussion, debate and public testimony,” said Council Chair Julia Patterson. “The next step is for voters to decide if they want to make these changes to our county ‘Constitution.’”

The five proposed charter amendments sent to the November ballot today are:

· 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: Reducing the number of county councilmembers on the council’s three regional committees, establishing a vice-chair position to be filled by a non-council member, authorizing the committees to initiate legislation, and authorizing the Regional Policy Committee to adopt its own work program without the need for council approval (Ordinance 2008-0359).

· Qualifications: Permitting the council to establish additional qualifications for separately-elected officials who head charter-based executive branch departments, as is currently permitted for the office of Sheriff (Ordinance 2008-0360).

· Budget Timeline: Providing the council with an additional 20 days to review the executive’s proposed county budget, for a total of 65 days for review, in recognition of the increased scope and responsibilities of county government from the time the review period was originally established 37 years ago (Ordinance 2008-0363).

· Economic Forecasts: Establishing an economic forecasting council for King County and an Office of Economic and Financial Analysis, to provide greater reliability in the economic and revenue forecasts on which the county’s budget is based (Ordinance 2008-0362).

The first four measures listed above are among the 12 recommended to the council in May by the King County Charter Review Commission, a citizen commission assembled every 10 years to review and propose charter updates to the council. To avoid overloading the ballot in any particular year, the council decided to phase in ballot measures over the next three general elections.

Action on a sixth proposed charter amendment was delayed for one week. That amendment would clarify the process by which citizens may amend the charter through initiative, increase the signature threshold to 20 percent to bring King County more into line with other counties, and eliminate the requirement to have two separate votes on citizen-initiated charter amendments.

The King County charter is the foundation of county government and serves a role similar to that played by the U.S. Constitution.

Members of the 2007-2008 King County Charter Review Commission held 55 meetings over more than a year in preparation of their final report and recommendations to the county.

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