A bill that expands who can bring a challenge against a jurisdiction under the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA) has advanced out of committee without key amendments addressing city impacts and now awaits action in the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

SB 5597 requires a city that is considered a “covered jurisdiction” to submit key policy decisions to the Attorney General of Washington or to a Superior Court in Thurston or King County before the jurisdiction can take action on those decisions.

A covered jurisdiction is defined as a city:

• With at least 10,000 residents and more than one racial or ethnic group or at least one language minority group, which constitutes at least 10% of the cities voting age population; or
• Which has been subject, within the previous 25 years, to three or more court orders or government enforcement actions related to a violation of either state or federal civil rights laws; or
• Which has been subject, within the previous 25 years, to one court order related to a violation of the state or federal voting rights laws or a voting-related violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Once a city is defined as a “covered jurisdiction,” the city is then placed in “pre-clearance” which requires the jurisdiction to seek approval before taking certain actions.

A covered jurisdiction must have the approval of the Attorney General or a Superior Court to engage in a “covered practice” such as:

• Changing the city charter;
• Any change to the method of electing members of the governing body by adding seats elected at large;
• Changing the boundaries of election districts or wards in the covered jurisdiction.

Once a jurisdiction has the approval to proceed, any voter in the jurisdiction can appeal that approval.

Other concerns with the bill include:

• Expansion of who can bring a challenge against a jurisdiction under the Washington Voting Rights Act (WVRA) to include organizations whose membership could include a voter in the jurisdiction.
• Reduction of time from 90 days to 50 days for jurisdictions to respond to notices, take action, and obtain court approval before a lawsuit can be filed.
• The ability for plaintiffs to recover attorney fees without prevailing in the court action.
• Refunding of $50,000 in research costs to individuals who file notices under the law.

AWC strongly supports voting rights and supports the intent of the legislation. AWC’s main concerns involve the lack of nexus with actual voting rights violations. A city can be placed in pre-clearance, not for violations of any law or bad actions, rather by the racial and ethnic makeup of their community. Once in pre-clearance, the bill does not address how a city can be removed from this oversight. Population thresholds are reviewed annually and take effect immediately. This means cities may pass in and out of pre-clearance annually.

AWC believes at least 45 cities will automatically be placed in pre-clearance if the bill passes as it is currently written.

AWC will continue to work with the prime sponsor and offer amendments we believe will strengthen and improve the bill.