After a lively and passionate hours-long debate on Tuesday, February 27, the House passed SB 6002, but a different version than the Senate-passed bill. On a 29-20 vote, the Senate concurred on March 5 with the House version, and the bill now heads to the Governor’s desk for his signature.

Before the House passed the bill on a 52-46 vote, numerous amendments were proposed. Most were rejected, including the proposal to increase the population size of a city the law would apply to (i.e. more than 1,000). The House-passed version does contain helpful provisions clarifying that only voters who reside in the jurisdiction can file an action under the Act, and requires that they must provide an actual showing of lack of opportunity for a protected class. Furthermore, it requires a political subdivision to publish on its website the outcome, summary, and legal costs of any court action under the Act.

Last week’s House action capped several weeks of back-and-forth communications and discussion between city interests and bill proponents and opponents. Following the AWC Board’s direction to be “actively neutral” on the bill, we offered bill language that would facilitate clear and fair implementation, since we fully expected the bill to pass. Offering suggested improvements was viewed by some as opposition and others as support. In the end, some of our ideas were incorporated and others were not. Chief among our concerns that failed to be addressed were clarifications of how a court would consider a city’s proposed election system remedy during the notice period, if not agreed to by the challenging party.

We have covered this issue extensively in our Legislative Bulletin and we appreciate the contacts city officials made with legislators – both pro and con. As we switch gears from an advocacy role to engaging with all our cities and towns on implementation of the Washington Voting Rights Act, look for coverage on this topic in our next issue of Cityvision and at our annual AWC Conference in Yakima, June 26-29. We also expect to provide various guidance resources and will be looking for opportunities to help cities talk through ways to use this Act to enhance engagement in their communities.