Opponents of the state's new "everything but marriage" law for same-sex domestic partners rushed to Olympia last week to file Referendum 71. The clock is ticking, and they only have until July 25th to gather 120,577 valid voter signatures. Assuming a cushion of about 25 percent for duplicate signatures, Mickey Mouses, people not registered to vote, etc., they'll probably need about 150,000.

Today, however, Attorney General Rob McKenna's office has said that the ballot title and summary won't be issued until Gov. Chris Gregoire signs the bill into law. Since Gregoire doesn't plan to sign the bill until Monday, that means another week lost before Referendum 71 filers can start printing up petitions.

(It also means, however, that the Refendum 71 folks won't face the risk of spending thousands of dollars printing up petitions, only to see them all rendered moot if Gregoire vetoes some section of the bill.)

"We have begun our work in drafting a title and summary for this measure, but the bill in question has not yet been enacted, as it has not been approved by the Governor as required by the constitution," deputy solicitor general Jim Pharris wrote today to Secretary of State Sam Reed, the state's chief elections officer.

Gregoire can also veto parts of the bill. If she does that, Referendum 71 organizers would have to re-file the measure.

---

---