Other LanguagesAn initiative, under Article II, § 1 of the Washington Constitution, may be used for the purpose of applying to the federal Congress to call a convention for proposing amendments to the United States Constitution in accordance with Article V thereof.
(1) An initiative to the legislature, if enacted by the legislature, is not subject to gubernatorial veto.
(2) An initiative to the legislature may be rejected either by formal action, by informal inaction prior to the end of the regular session to which the initiative was submitted, or by the passage of an alternative measure to be submitted to the voters along with the initiative at the next ensuing regular general election.
(3) An alternative to an initiative to the legislature need not be passed at the regular session to which the initiative itself was submitted but, to be effective, such an alternative must be passed in time to permit its submission to the voters at the same general election as the one at which the rejected initiative, alone, would be required to be voted upon if an alternative measure had not also been enacted.
The state constitution vests authority in the legislature to direct the number of judges of the superior court. A county legislative authority wishing to reduce the number of existing judgeships may work with the legislature to accomplish that result.
RCW 43.135.055(1), as most recently amended by Initiative 1185 and previously by Initiatives 960 and 1053, does not amend or repeal approval the legislature has granted in other statutes for the imposition or increase of fees, and makes no distinction as to when legislative approval must take place.
(1) The legislature of the state of Washington may enact a law in the exercise of its police power requiring all apples and other fruit being shipped into the state to meet state grades notwithstanding the grades, if any, of the state of origin, providing that the fruit was not being shipped into Washington according to federal grades. Any legislation would be inoperative if any of the state grades adopted were in direct conflict with any federal grades being used pursuant to any act of Congress which would allow the interstate shipment of fruit according to federal grades.(2) Same: Such a law could be enforced by various means including "stop-sale orders," "embargoes," "seizures" and criminal sanctions.
A legislative redistricting plan formulated by a statutorily-created redistricting commission could not become effective without being enacted into law by the legislature in the manner that other laws, generally, are enacted.
1. The State Auditor's authority to audit the records of agencies, including the Legislature, implies authority to require that records be kept in sufficient detail to satisfy audit needs. 2. The State Auditor has authority to require state agencies, including the Legislature, to maintain records of telephone numbers called from state-owned telephones, for audit purposes. 3. If the State Auditor maintains files containing legislative telephone records, such records are exempt from public disclosure while the audit investigation is pending; thereafter, the records are generally not exempt from disclosure unless someone can make a showing that particular records fall within some recognized exception to the public disclosure laws. 4. The State Auditor's authority to audit the Legislature, including the authority to prescribe the keeping of records for audit purposes, extends to the Legislature itself and to committees created by the Legislature (such as the Legislative Transportation Committee and the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee), and to persons or agencies exercising legislative power (such as the State Actuary and the Redistricting Commission).
Consideration of various alternatives which are available to the legislature under Article II, § 1 (Amendments 7 and 30) and Article II, § 41 (Amendment 26) of the Washington Constitution upon certification and transmittal to it of an initiative to the legislature; adoption and amendment; rejection and submission of alternative proposal to voters; time for certification of initiative to legislature.
1. The Legislature has discretion to prescribe the specific duties of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and to create agencies and institutions to administer the state's public education system; however, it must respect the constitutional language granting the Superintendent "supervisory" power over the public school system. 2. The public school system, for purposes of defining the constitutional "supervision" authority of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, includes the common school system of elementary, intermediate, and high schools, and would also include normal schools and technical schools if the Legislature were to create any. 3. The Legislature may not "delegate" to another officer or agency the "supervision" authority of the Superintendent of Public Instruction over the public schools; however, with this restriction, the Legislature has broad discretion to create state and local agencies and institutions to administer the public education system, and to define their respective powers and duties.
Under the provisions of RCW 49.60.050 the Governor may designate as chairperson of the Washington State Human Rights Commission any member thereof, notwithstanding a previous Governor's designation of a different sitting commissioner as chairperson.