Reply #5: Final results

[eridani]

The 2007-2008 review of the King County Charter has concluded. Thank you for your interest and participation in the process! The King County Charter Review Commission convened in February 2007 and met for over a year, holding a total of 55 meetings to study charter issues and confer with the public.

In June 2008, the King County Charter Review Commission released its Final Report and Recommendations, recommending 12 amendments to the county charter. The report can be downloaded at http://www.kingcoun ty.gov/ council/issues/ charter.aspx. To avoid overloading the ballot with too many amendments in one year, the Commission proposed a schedule for phasing in the amendments over three general elections (2008, 2009, and 2010).

The County Council has placed five amendments on the November 2008 ballot (you can read more about these amendments at the end of this message):

- Anti-Discrimination
- Charter Amendment by Citizen Initiative
- Regional Committees
- Qualifications for Elected Officials
- Budget Timeline

The County Council may take action on the following amendments in November 2009 and 2010:

- Open Space Protection (originally recommended for 2008, now for 2009)
- Unincorporated Areas Representation (recommended for 2009)
- Elections Deadlines (recommended for 2009)
- Budget Allotments (recommended for 2010)
- Commission Procedures (recommended for 2010)
- Transitory Provisions (recommended for 2010)

Going forward, the Council will periodically update its charter review website at http://www.kingcoun ty.gov/ council/issues/ charter.aspx. If you have questions or comments about the amendments or the charter review process, you can contact Executive Office staff by emailing charter.review@ kingcounty. gov, or contact County Council staff via their charter review website at http://www.kingcoun ty.gov/ council/issues/ charter/ Testimony.aspx.

Sincerely,
Mike Lowry and Lois North
Co-chairs, Charter Review Commission


Amendments on the 2008 Ballot:

Anti-Discrimination : Updates the Charter's anti-discrimination provision to prohibit discrimination based on disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression in county employment and contracting.

Charter Amendment by Citizen Initiative: Streamlines the process by which citizens may amend the Charter, by eliminating the requirement to hold two separate public votes on charter amendment initiatives. This amendment also increases the charter initiative signature threshold to 20 percent of the votes cast in the previous election for County Executive. The Council added a provision to this amendment extending the time period for gathering charter initiative signatures to 120 days.

Regional Committees: Reduces the number of County Councilmembers on the Council's three regional committees, establishes a vice-chair position to be filled by a non-Council member, authorizes the committees to initiate legislation, and authorizes the Regional Policy Committee to adopt its own work program without the need for Council approval.

Qualifications for Elected Officials: Permits 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. These would include the office of Assessor, as well as and the position of Elections Director if Initiative 26 is passed by the citizens in November 2008.

Budget Timeline: Provides 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.

In addition to the amendments above, three additional charter amendments will appear on the November 2008 ballot:

Economic Forecasts: The Council and Executive worked together to create an amendment that establishes an economic forecasting council for King County and an Office of Economic and Financial Analysis.

Initiative 25: A citizen initiative that proposes to make the county director of elections an elected office. It is currently an appointed position.
Initiative 26: A citizen initiative that proposes to make elective county offices nonpartisan beginning in 2009. This would include the County Executive, Assessor and Council; the Sheriff is already nonpartisan.

Amendments Proposed for 2009:

Open Space Protection: Establishes additional protection for over 100,000 acres of high conservation value open space properties in which the county owns an interest. This amendment was recommended for 2008, and the Commission is now advocating that it be considered for 2009.

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

Elections Deadlines: Authorizes the county to establish deadlines by ordinance for submitting local ballot measures to the Elections Division, in response to an Elections Division request for additional time to process such measures.

Amendments Proposed for 2010:

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

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

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