A proposed amendment to the King County Charter that would streamline the process for bringing a citizen initiative to amend the charter and raise the signature threshold has been placed on the November ballot by the Metropolitan King County Council. The council also unanimously adopted a separate ordinance to extend the time period for gathering charter amendment initiative signatures to 120 days if the charter amendment is approved by voters this November.

The proposed charter amendment would increase the number of signatures needed to place a citizen initiative to amend the charter on the ballot, and eliminate the current requirement to hold two separate public votes on such measures.

Under the current charter, proposals to amend it may be placed on the ballot either by the King County Council or by voters approving a citizen initiative submitted with enough petition signatures.

Such citizen initiatives now require the signatures of registered county voters equaling at least 10 percent of the number of votes cast in the most recent election for County Executive; based on the turnout in 2005, that number is 52,817. The proposed charter amendment would raise the signature threshold to 20 percent for charter amendment initiatives, but will stay at 10 percent for other initiatives.

The existing charter process requires two elections for enactment of citizen-initiated charter amendments. Voters must first be asked whether they wish to approve an ordinance placing a proposed charter amendment on the ballot. If that question passes, voters must then approve or reject the charter amendment itself at the next scheduled general election. The proposed amendment would eliminate the so-called “two-step” process and require only one public vote.

A companion ordinance also adopted by the council would amend the King County Code to extend the period for gathering signatures for citizen-initiated charter amendments to 120 days, up from the current 90. In 1969, after voters enacted the original charter, county code provisions were adopted to set the signature deadline for initiatives at 60 days; in 1998 the deadline in the code was extended to 90 days.

The King County Charter was adopted by voters in 1968. It serves a role similar to that played by the U.S. Constitution.