Laws governing ballot measures in Washington
Citizens of Washington may initiate legislation as state statutes and indirectly initiated state statutes. In Washington, citizens also have the power to repeal legislation via veto referendum.
The Washington State Legislature may place measures on the ballot as legislatively referred constitutional amendments, legislatively referred state statutes, legislatively referred bond measures, and legislatively referred constitutional convention questions. Amendments and constitutional convention questions require a two-thirds (66.67%) vote in each chamber during one legislative session to be referred to the ballot. Statutes and bond measures require a simple majority vote in each chamber during one legislative session to be referred to the ballot. Additionally, statutes and bond measures require the signature of the governor to appear on the ballot.
Below are links to the various types of ballot measure law Ballotpedia tracks:
- Laws governing the initiative process in Washington
- Laws governing recall in Washington
- Amending the Washington Constitution
- Laws governing local ballot measures in Washington
- Signature requirements for ballot measures in Washington
- Campaign finance requirements for Washington ballot measures
Statutes relevant to ballot measures
The following is a list of enacted bills related to ballot measures passed between 2007 and 2015.
- Washington House Bill 2055 (2015)
- Washington House Bill 1645 (1993)
- Washington House Bill 2601 (2008)
- Washington Senate Bill 5258 (2013)
- Washington Senate Bill 5507 (2013)
Ballot measure lawsuits
The following is a selection of historical lawsuits related to ballot measure law.
- WIN v. Warheit
- Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 v. State of Washington
- Coppernoll v. Reed
- LIMIT v. Maleng
- Washington Citizens Action v. State
- Hartig v. City of Seattle
See also
- Laws governing ballot measures
- Types of ballot measures in Washington
- List of Washingtonballot measures
