Editorial: Initiative process needs improvement

Spokane’s initiative process needs updating. The City Council can make it happen Monday night.

The proposed changes will simplify the rules, require a fiscal note, and in general align procedures with those of the state of Washington.

A do-it-yourself process that bypasses some of the checks that assure impartiality will be eliminated.

The proposal will raise the bar for local individuals and groups that want to put an initiative in front of voters. But the proposal also removes the possibility five votes on the City Council could deny an initiative a place on the ballot.

State procedures for validating signatures will be substituted for the city’s, but the number of signatures required to get a measure on the ballot will not change.

For the most part, the changes follow recommendations from the League of Women Voters, which in 2009 was asked by the City Council to review procedures that had remained largely static while the state codes were updated. The request came in response to the first of two efforts by Envision Spokane to make substantial changes in the city charter, changes opposed by almost all government and business officials.

Envision’s proposals were long on promise, short on substance.

The new process gives the city attorney authority to a ballot title and summary of the measure in consultation with its sponsors. Both must be neutral and nonargumentative.

The council retains the right to draft an alternative to an initiative if the sponsor and members cannot agree on a compromise. A new provision allows both sides, or anyone else, to appeal the title and summary in Superior Court. Five council members would have to vote to file an appeal.

The city would no longer contribute up to $2,000 toward the legal costs of an initiative sponsor, a tradeoff for removing council power to find an initiative legally invalid.

A fiscal statement prepared by the city’s financial services division must describe how an initiative would affect revenues, costs and indebtedness. The initiative sponsor can prepare a separate statement that would be posted on the city’s website along with the financial services divison’s analysis.

The council has already taken action that will increase the information available to voters. Last month, members approved an ordinance that provides for the appointment of separate committees that will write statements for and against a ballot measure. The “pro” committee must include the initiative’s sponsor. The statements would be included in a voter pamphlet or, more likely, on the Spokane County website.

Spokane residents had one opportunity to comment on the changes at a community open house. They will have a second chance Monday.

Washington and Spokane voters take seriously their ability to put a change in law directly to the people. Nothing the City Council will undertake Monday will compromise access to the ballot. It will assure consistency, clarity and a more robust explanation of an initiative’s consequences.