This morning King County Superior Court Judge Brian McDonald ruled on a challenge to the proposed ballot title of Compassion Seattle’s charter amendment, making only a minor edit. The campaign is now clear to begin gathering signatures.
The ballot title was challenged by a coalition consisting of Real Change, Nickelsville, Transit Riders Union, and Be:Seattle. The original ballot title, as written by the City Attorney as required under law (not by the ballot proponents), reads:
City of Seattle proposed Charter Amendment No. 29 concerns actions to address
homelessness and keep areas clear of encampments.
This measure would require the City to provide 2,000 housing units within one
year; and, until 2028: waive land use regulations and charges for such housing
during declared emergencies; fund behavioral health and addiction treatment;
dedicate minimum 12% of annual general fund revenue to homelessness and human
services without affecting certain parks funding; implement diversion programs for
law violations connected to poverty or behavioral health; and balance keeping
public spaces clear of encampments with avoiding harm to individuals.
Ballot titles are always a challenge: the first clause describing what it “concerns” may only be up to 10 words, and the main paragraph has a limit of 75 words. In addition, under the State Constitution (and decades of confusing case law precedents) they must accurately and substantially describe the full effect of the initiative, not necessarily listing every last detail but providing sufficient information to “put the voter on notice” as to what portions of the bill they might want to learn more about. The challengers argued that the proposed ballot title contains several factual inaccuracies, as well as phrases that are prejudicial in favor of the initiative rather than neutral descriptions of what the charter amendment would do. They offered an alternative ballot title:
City of Seattle proposed Charter Amendment No. 29 concerns human services funding,
homelessness, and encampment dispersal.
This measure would, until 2028, adopt homelessness policies and performance measures; waive
land use regulations and charges for emergency and permanent housing projects; provide for 2,000 such “units” with support within one year; “help fund” certain behavioral health, treatment, and other services; dedicate minimum 12% of annual general fund revenue to human services and homelessness without affecting certain parks funding; implement diversion programs for crimes connected to poverty or behavioral health; and override conflicting laws and rules.
The campaign responded that the challengers were attempting to add their own prejudicial wording, and further argued that while it is understandable that they would prefer alternative language they did not prove that the City Attorney’s version was illegal.
Judge McDonald largely agreed with the campaign, only incorporating edits to reflect one of the challengers’ complaints: that the language implies that the waiver of land use regulations only applies to the 2,000 new units. The final, approved ballot language reads:
City of Seattle proposed Charter Amendment No. 29 concerns actions to address homelessness and keep areas clear of encampments.
This measure would require the City to provide 2,000 housing units within one year; and, until 2028: waive land use regulations and charges for such housing for units during declared emergencies; adopt homelessness policies; fund behavioral health and addiction treatment; dedicate minimum 12% of annual general fund revenue to homelessness and human services without affecting certain parks funding; implement diversion programs for law violations connected to poverty or behavioral health; and balance keeping public spaces clear of encampments with avoiding harm to individuals.
In a press release issued today, the campaign announced that it will officially begin collecting signatures this Thursday, May 27, and aims to gather the required 33,060 signatures by June 25. That would allow King County Elections to verify the signatures in time to place the measure on the November general election ballot.
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