Last week I noted the four state constitutional amendments on the November ballot.
They have designations like SJR 8212 (on inmate labor), SHJR 4215 (on investments for state colleges), EHJR 4204 (allowing simple majorities for school levies) and ESSJR 8206 (creating a constitutional “rainy-day fund).
What do all these initials mean?
A proposed constitutional amendment starts with a joint resolution in the Legislature. It’s either an HJR (starting in the House) or an SJR (starting in the Senate). It must get a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate. If it does, it goes to the voters for approval.
If a committee rewrites a resolution, we get a substitute resolution (SHJR or SSJR). Hence, HJR 4215 became SHJR 4215.
A resolution amended on the House or Senate floor becomes an “engrossed” resolution. That’s how the school levy amendment became Engrossed HJR 4204.
Sometimes both happen. Hence, Engrossed Substitute SJR 8206.
The numbers are in four digits because they’re counted from the first Legislature in the late 1800s.
More on the cop who arrested Sen. Craig
After I joked last week that the policeman who arrested Sen. Larry Craig was spending too much time signaling people in lavatory stalls, a former police employee told me that officers on vice detail are trained in current signals and that they usually work where citizens have complained and stay there until their face becomes known.
Why primary in August? It’s needed
We already know the results of the primary elections in Snohomish County — more than two months before the general election. So, why couldn’t we have kept the September date?
For an answer look at Pasco, where one candidate for City Council is just one vote ahead of another for the right to move to the general election.
If they take this week for the automatic recount, and the election stays close enough for someone to ask for a hand recount, the Franklin County auditor’s office will have only six weeks to print the ballots and get them to voters before Election Day.
Why football in August? It’s not needed
It’s mid-September, once the start of the college and high school football season. Yet, most teams are playing their third games because they started before Labor Day.
At one time, teams started the third weekend in September and played 10 games before Thanksgiving. Now, they play more games and take occasional weeks off.
Instead of starting in hot August, let’s have a rule prohibiting games before Labor Day. That leaves 11 dates before Thanksgiving.
Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor. Send comments to entopinion@heraldnet.com.
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