Third time a charm for Envision Spokane?

Envision Spokane on Thursday filed its Community Bill of Rights initiative with the Spokane City Clerk’s office.

This is the third time the group has filed a Community Bill of Rights. It succeeded the previous two times in collecting the needed signatures to place the item on the ballot. Its 2009 proposal was easily defeated by voters, but its 2011 scaled-back version nearly passed. The initiative filed on Thursday mirrors the 2011 version (the petition filed on Thursday is linked to this post).

By filing now, the initiative is locked into initiative rules that currently are on the books. On Monday, the Spokane City Council will consider changing the initiative process to eliminate the filing method preferred by Envision Spokane. That method allows groups to place a question before voters without input from the City Attorney’s Office.

The question could be put before voters this year or next, but if they want it on the ballot this year, they’ll need to collect substantially more signatures.