Initiative Effort Seeks to Limit Governor's Emergency Proclamations to Two Weeks

A group is collecting signatures for an initiative to the Legislature that seeks to limit emergency proclamations from the governor to two weeks.

The group behind the Initiative 1114 effort is called Restore Washington.

"I-1114 limits emergency Proclamations issued by the Governor to no longer than 14 days unless extended by a vote of the Legislature," the group said in a press release. "The Legislature may not extend a Proclamation through mere letters from leadership, but must meet and vote. No individual extension may exceed fourteen days."

If it gets 259,622 valid signatures by the end of the year, the measure would go before the Legislature next year.

If that happens, lawmakers could adopt it, reject or ignore it, or propose an alternative measure.

If they adopt it, it would become law. Otherwise the measure and any alternative the Legislature proposes would go to voters.

Restore Washington's press release said I-1114 would also require that "each emergency Proclamation can cover no greater area than a single county."

It also adds: "Any person could challenge an emergency Proclamation in Superior Court of the affected county. Judicial review would be expedited and could not be appealed."

Restore Washington's co-founders, according to its website, are business owner Mike McKee from Wenatchee; former state Rep. Cary Condotta; and Shelley Sieverkropp, a former bookkeeper for small businesses.

Asked by The News Tribune about how the initiative would affect the governor's ability to respond in an emergency, University of Washington law professor Hugh Spitzer said: "It obviously, at least under one of the statutory provisions, appears to require more detail in the declaration of emergency than is required now. And it also provides for court review and that could adversely affect a governor's ability to protect the public in the event of serious emergencies."

He questioned the constitutionality of parts of the proposal.

"It would make things more complicated and could slow down an emergency response. ... From a practical standpoint, if there is a pandemic, a tsunami, or Mount Rainier blows its top, it would make it a lot harder for the state to respond."

Attorney Joel Ard said he's done legal work for Restore Washington in the past and is working with them on the initiative effort.

"The Legislature has not been called into special session," he said. "There has been a state of emergency running since before the session ended. ... There is almost no role for anyone other than the governor to say what is and isn't an emergency, when it starts, and when it ends."

The initiative, Ard said, "doesn't make substantive changes, it makes procedural ones. You could still have an emergency about anything. ... He can respond to an emergency as fast as he can write a proclamation, which is the same as it is right now."

Asked for comment, the governor's office said in a statement: "A federal judge has determined that the governor has taken action consistent with his emergency authority, and plaintiffs' reading of the law would make it impossible to respond to emergencies."

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