Voters may see county charter amendments

An independent agency to develop economic forecasts for use by King County government would be created under a proposal the County Council decided Monday to submit to voters in November.

The proposal is one of six amendments to the county charter that would appear on the November ballot for ratification, the council's Committee of the Whole voted Monday. Although the ballot lineup must be approved officially in a meeting of the full council, the committee includes all of the council's members.

The charter is the basic structural document for county government, akin to a state or national constitution. A Charter Review Commission -- the fifth since adoption of the charter in 1968 -- met over the past two years and forwarded 12 proposed amendments to the council, recommending that the amendments be presented to voters over three years to avoid overloading the November ballot.

The economic forecasting amendment actually was developed by the council and the executive branch, independently of the commission. The council also changed the timing of the balloting from what the commission recommended, deciding to go ahead this year with proposals that council members did not feel needed further discussion, in order to meet deadlines for drafting the ballot.

Moved up to November from the commission's proposed ballot date of 2009 was a proposal to double the number of signatures required to place an amendment before voters via initiative, to 20 percent of the votes cast for county executive in the last election.

Dropped from the commission's proposals for the November ballot were measures to strengthen the protection of environmentally sensitive public lands and to give the sheriff an expanded role in bargaining working conditions with deputies.

Left on the commission's list for November were measures to:

Strengthen anti-discrimination provisions relating to disability, sexual orientation and gender identity in county employment or contracting.

Allow the council more time to review the executive's annual budget proposal.

Authorize the council to establish qualifications for candidates for sheriff, assessor and any new elected county offices.

Reduce the number of slots reserved for County Council members on regional governmental committees.