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Official ballot title:*RESOLUTION VACANCY: LEGISLATIVE,

COUNTY ELECTIVE OFFICESProposed Constitutional Amendment Shall the State Constitution be amended toprovide for filling vacancies in legislative orpartisan county elective offices as follows:(1) The county commissioners of the countyaffected shall appoint a person from thesame legislative, county or county commis-sioner district and political party as theofficer whose office has been vacated;(2) On failure of the county commissionersto so appoint within sixty days, the governorshall within thirty days appoint a personsimilarly qualified?Vote cast by members of the 1967 Legislature on final passage:SENATE: (49 members) Yeas, 47; Nays, 0; Absent or not voting, 2.HOUSE: (99 members) Yeas, W; Nays, 0; Absent or not voting, 3.*Ballot Title as issued by the Attorney General.

Statement FOR

The problem:The approval of Senate Joint Resolution 24is required to prevent subversion of the peo-ple's wishes and commands in county gov-ernment and to guarantee full and adequaterepresentation of the people. Under the pres-ent constitutional provision the county com-missioners, when a vacancy occurs in apartisan elected county office, have completeand unqualified power to appoint, or not toappoint, a new official to the vacated position.For example, if the official vacating thecounty office is of a different party affiliation

from that of the majority of county comrnis-sioners, they may subvert the will of thepeople by (1) filling the vacancy with a per-son of party affiliation contrary to that ofthe official vacating the office, or (2) notappointing any new official.The solution:

The approval of Senate Joint Resolution 24will further the will of the people by firstplacing qualification on the county commis-sioners' power of appointment. Their powerwill be restricted to the appointment of aperson who is (1) from the same county orcounty commissioner district as the officerwhose office has been vacated; (2) a memberof the same political party; and (3 ) one of thethree persons nominated by the county cen-tral committee of that party. Second, if t he

county commissioners fail to act within 60days time the governor shall make the ap-pointment from the list of three nomineeswho shall be of the same political affiliationas the person who vacated the office.

The approval of Senate Joint Resolution 24is required so as to prevent subversion ofthe people's wishes such as has occurred inKitsap County in years past. The importanceof Senate Joint Resolution 24 was recognizedby the Legislature in its vote on the resolu-tion. Unanimous approval was voiced--47 to0 in the Senate, 96 to 0 in the House of Rep-resentatives.

Commit tee appoin ted to compose s ta tement FOR S J R 24:WILLIAM A. GISSBERG, State Senator; CHARLES W.ELICKER, Sta te Representat ive; GORDON L. WALGREN,State Representative.Advisory Commit tee: GARY SEXTON, Chairman.

8/14/2019 Pages From Voters Pamphlet 1968 Kingco 2007 000806

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Explanatory comment issued by theAttorney General as required by lawThe Law as it now exists:

Under the present constitution any vacancy in the leg-islature o r any partisan county elective office is to be filledby appoin tment by the board of co unty commissionersof the county in which the vacancy occurs. Although theconstitution does not prescribe any qualifications for ap-pointment of a person to fill a vacancy in a pa rtisanelective county office, it expressly provides that to beeligible for appointment to fill a vacancy in the legisla-ture a person must be (1) from the same legislativedistrict; ( 2 ) from the same political party as the legislatorwhose office has been vacated; and ( 3 ) one of th e thre epersons nominated by the county central committee ofthat party.In the case of a vacancy i n a joint leg islative dis trict(encompassing two or more counties) the appointmentis to be made by the joint action of the several boards ofcounty commissioners from a list of thr ee nominees(having the same qualifications stated above) submittedby the appropriate state central committee. The consti-tution presently provides that in the event the boards ofcounty commissioners cannot, within 60 days, agree uponthe appointment to fill a vacancy in a joint legislativedistrict, the governor, within 30 days, shall fill thevacancy from the list of nominees. However, no similar

authority to resolve such an impasse is vested in the gov-ern or in the case of legislative vacancies in distr icts lyingwholly in. a sing le county, or in th e case of part isanelective county offices, and our supreme court has heldthe legislature may not under the existing constitutionvest such authority in the governor.Effect of Senate Joint Resolution No. 24if approved into Law:

The proposed amendment would first make the qualifi-cations necessary for appointment to fill a vacancy in thelegislature applicable, as well, to vacancies in partisancounty elective offices. Thus, under the amendment, inorder to be eligible to fill a vacancy in such a county officea person would have to be (1 ) a resident of the samecounty or county commissioner district as the officerwhose office has been vacated; ( 2 ) a mem ber of the sam epolitical party as the officer he succeeds; and ( 3 ) one ofthree persons nominated to fill the vacancy by the countycentral committee of tha t political party.In addition, the amendmen t would provide th at if thecounty commissioners cannot agree upon the appointmentof a person to fill a partisan county elective office or alegislative office within 6 0 days, the governor shall, within30 days, thereafter, fill the vacancy by appointing a per-son from the list of nominees.Note: Complete text of Senate Joint Resolution No. 24starts on Page 50 .

Statement AGAINST

Before any constitutional amendment canbe submitted to the voters for decision, ourstate constitution requires that the proposalmust first be approved by at least two-thirdsof the members of each branch of the statelegislature.

Senate Joint Resolution No. 24 was so ap-proved by the 1967 Legislature and no mem-ber could be enlisted to write a statementagainst the measure for publication in thispamphlet.

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