Washington Senate Joint Resolution 8200, Government Continuation Legislation for Catastrophic Incidents Amendment (2019)

Washington Senate Joint Resolution 8200
Election date November 5, 2019
Topic State legislatures measures
Status a Approved
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature
List of Washington measuresWashington Initiative 976Washington Washington Referendum 88Washington Senate Joint Resolution 8200Washington Advisory Vote 20Washington Advisory Vote 21Washington Advisory Vote 22Washington Advisory Vote 23Washington Advisory Vote 24Washington Advisory Vote 25Washington Advisory Vote 26Washington Advisory Vote 27Washington Advisory Vote 28Washington Advisory Vote 29Washington Advisory Vote 30Washington Advisory Vote 31Submit

The Washington Government Continuation Legislation for Catastrophic Incidents Amendment was on the ballot in Washington as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 5, 2019. It was approved.

A yes vote supported the amendment to authorize the Washington State Legislature to pass bills addressing the succession of powers and duties of public offices during periods of catastrophic incidents that are considered emergencies.

A no vote opposed the amendment to authorize the Washington State Legislature to pass bills addressing the succession of powers and duties of public offices during periods of catastrophic incidents that are considered emergencies.

Election results

Washington Senate Joint Resolution 8200
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		1,247,265	65.05%
No		670,086	34.95%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What was SJR 8200 designed to do?

This amendment authorized the Washington State Legislature, during periods of catastrophic incidents that are considered emergencies, to pass bills that address the succession of powers and duties of public offices when the offices' incumbents and legal successors are unavailable for carrying out the office. In other words, the amendment allowed the legislature to pass laws temporarily filling certain vacant public offices in the event of a catastrophic incident.

SJR 8200 allowed the legislature to pass laws it determines are necessary to provide for "continuity of state and local governmental operations" even if those laws are at odds with the state constitution if conformance with the constitution would be impracticable or cause undue delay.

As of 2019, the state legislature could pass bills that addressed the succession of powers and duties of public offices (such as filling vacancies) during periods of warfare against the United States causing substantial damage and injury in Washington.

Why was this measure on the ballot?

The amendment's primary sponsor, Democratic Senator Dean Takko of Washington's 19th Senate District, said he sponsored the amendment to ensure governmental continuity in the case of damage resulting from natural disasters— specifically, a potential earthquake and tsunami at the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ). The CSZ is a 700-mile long fault, mostly offshore, stretching from Northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, to Cape Mendocino in Northern California.

How did this measure get on the ballot?

This constitutional amendment was approved in the Washington State Senate on March 7, 2019, in a vote of 37 to 11. On April 17, 2019, the House approved the amendment in a vote of 91 to seven.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for SJR 8200 was as follows:

“

The legislature has proposed a constitutional amendment concerning legislative powers in times of emergency. This measure would add "catastrophic incidents" to the specified times of emergency that the legislature may take certain immediate actions to ensure continuity of state and local governmental operations. Should this constitutional amendment be: []Approved []Rejected

”

Explanatory statement

The explanatory statement for SJR 8200, provided in the Washington Voters' Guide for the 2019 general election, is below:

“

The Constitutional Provision As It Presently Exists: Article II, section 42 of the Washington State Constitution permits the legislature to adopt legislation governing certain immediate actions in times of emergency resulting from enemy attack. The authorized legislation includes measures to ensure continuity of state and local governmental operations and appointing public officers to ensure public duties continue to be carried out. The Effect Of The Proposed Amendment If Approved: This measure would allow the legislature to adopt legislation governing continuity of state and local operations not just in case of “enemy attack,” but also in the event of “catastrophic incidents.”

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article II, Washington State Constitution

The measure amended Section 42 of Article II of the Washington Constitution. The following underlined text was added, and struck-through text was deleted: Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

The legislature, in order to insure continuity of state and local governmental operations in periods of emergency resulting from a catastrophic incident or enemy attack, shall have the power and the duty, immediately upon and after adoption of this amendment, to enact legislation providing for prompt and temporary succession to the powers and duties of public offices of whatever nature and whether filled by election or appointment, the incumbents and legal successors of which may become unavailable for carrying on the powers and duties of such offices; the legislature shall likewise enact such other measures as may be necessary and proper for insuring the continuity of governmental operations during such emergencies. Legislation enacted under the powers conferred by this amendment shall in all respects conform to the remainder of the Constitution: Provided, That if, in the judgment of the legislature at the time of ((disaster)) the emergency, conformance to the provisions of the Constitution would be impracticable or would admit of undue delay, such legislation may depart during the period of emergency caused by a catastrophic incident or enemy attack only, from the following sections of the Constitution:

-Article 14, Sections 1 and 2, Seat of Government;

-Article 2, Sections 8, 15 (Amendments 13 and 32), and 22, Membership, Quorum of Legislature and Passage of Bills;

-Article 3, Section 10 (Amendment 6), Succession to Governorship: Provided, That the legislature shall not depart from Section 10, Article III, as amended by Amendment 6, of the state Constitution relating to the Governor's office so long as any successor therein named is available and capable of assuming the powers and duties of such office as therein prescribed;

-Article 3, Section 13, Vacancies in State Offices;

-Article 11, Section 6, Vacancies in County Offices;

-Article 11, Section 2, Seat of County Government;

-Article 3, Section 24, State Records.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2019

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The Washington Attorney General wrote the ballot language for this measure. The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 15, and the FRE is 9. The word count for the ballot title is 50, and the estimated reading time is 13 seconds. The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level 17, and the FRE is 11. The word count for the ballot summary is 99, and the estimated reading time is 26 seconds.

Support

Legislative sponsor

This amendment's primary sponsor was Senator Dean Takko (D-19).

Official arguments

Following are the official arguments in support of SJR 8200 included in the Washington Voters' Guide for the 2019 general election.

SJR 8200 official supporting arguments

“ Our State Is Not Prepared for a Catastrophic Event Following a catastrophic incident, it is critical for government to continue to function. The Washington State Constitution sets forth how governments will operate in the aftermath of an “enemy attack” but not in the case of other types of catastrophic incidents that may occur. The intent of this constitutional amendment is to ensure that state and local governments can properly function after any type of major disruption. Voting Yes Is One Critical Step to Get Ready for a Disaster This constitutional amendment allows for governments to continue operations after a “catastrophic incident.” A catastrophic incident is defined to include natural disasters, terrorism attacks, and other events that result in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy or government functions. We Never Know When a Disaster Will Strike, We Must Prepare Now This amendment is essential for us to prepare for incidents such as the inevitable Cascadia earthquake, catastrophic wildfires or a catastrophic pandemic. The reality is that these events will occur at some point in the future, bringing about such damage and disruption severe enough to interfere with government operations. State and local governments need to be better prepared to continue to operate after these catastrophic events. This would allow us to take action to plan for those important steps now. Vote Yes on SJR 8200 Rebuttal of argument against: This measure lives up to the existing framework for protecting critical functions of state and local governments, enshrined in our state constitution nearly 60 years ago. The definition of “catastrophic incident” is clear and military and other federal agencies use it too. By voting yes, you are allowing government to continue after "extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions." ”

These arguments were prepared by Democratic Senators Dean Takko, Marko Liias, and Roger Goodman; Bret Daugherty of the Washington National Guard; and Dennis Lawson, president of the Washington State Council of Firefighters.

Opposition

Official arguments

Following are the official arguments in opposition to SJR 8200 included in the Washington Voters' Guide for the 2019 general election.

SJR 8200 official opposing arguments

“ Weakens Constitutional Protections for Citizens and Grants More Power to Government This measure changes the constitution of our state to allow the legislature to bypass current constitutional and statutory provisions over the state legislature and how it operates. Current provisions allow this exemption in the event of enemy attack. The changes being made with this proposal would allow this exemption in the case of “catastrophic incident”. Criteria Not Defined This measure does not adequately define what constitutes a “catastrophic incident” nor does it define how widespread such an incident must be in order to trigger this provision. You would have to trust government to make these decisions with or without your input. We should demand a better proposal with clear definitions. Legislative Dictates This would grant Legislative leaders from distant areas of the state free reign to change the location of the Capitol, appoint legislators and local government officials to represent you, and pass bills as they see fit with no legislative process requirements, leaving you with no recourse to stop anything they do nor how they do it. May Hurt You When You Need Help the Most Passage of this measure will allow government to decide who will make the laws on your behalf and potentially concentrate power in fewer individuals further from you and your interests; and they will be able to do it at a time when you need the constitutional protections and assistance the most. Rebuttal of argument for: While it is important to prepare for disasters, the legislature needs to provide more specificity on how it would use this new authority before voters approve this authority. How large an area much be affected and what actions they would take should be better spelled out prior to voters extending any additional authority. Don’t wait for disaster to strike to find out their intent – insist they tell you before you change the constitution. ”

These arguments were prepared by Republican Representatives Bob McCaslin Jr. and Ed Orcutt.

Media editorials

See also: 2019 ballot measure media endorsements

Support

• The Union-Bulletin: "Voters are being asked to approve Senate Joint Resolution 8200, which updates the state Constitution to include 'catastrophic incidents' as a reason to take actions to ensure continuity of state and local governmental operations. The Cascadia Subduction Zone, a geologic fault line off the Pacific Coast that stretches from Canada to Northern California, has the potential for creating a massive earthquake that could decimate Western Washington and generate a tsunami that would inundate coastal communities, according to reporting done by the Spokesman-Review newspaper. Such quakes occur on average every 300 to 500 years, with the last one record in 1700, the newspaper reported. Again, nobody wants [a big earthquake] to occur, but if it does the state will have a plan in place to ensure state and local governments continue to function. We urge voters to approve SJR 8200."

• The Seattle Times: "Critics warn that the language is too broad, leaving open the possibility for abuse. They argue that more specifics are needed to understand exactly what might constitutes a 'catastrophic incident' and how government might use its emergency powers. But these definitions are clearly laid out in state emergency management statutes, which define a catastrophic incident as 'any natural or human-caused incident, including terrorism and enemy attack, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.' State law specifically excludes from the definition of catastrophic incidents events resulting from people exercising their rights to freedom of speech and peaceable assembly, which should assuage critics’ fears. While it is always advisable to be cautious when amending the constitution, in this case the rationale is clear. Vote 'approved' on SJR 8200."

• The Columbian: "Possible threats to a functioning state government have changed since the Cold War, and the state constitution should reflect those changes. The Columbian Editorial Board recommends a 'yes' vote on Senate Joint Resolution 8200 for the Nov. 5 election. ...We hope that never is necessary; but, as they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Modern threats are different than they were nearly six decades ago, with the prospect of terrorism or natural disaster supplanting a Cold War nuclear attack in the public consciousness. The state constitution should reflect that."

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not identify any media editorials opposing SJR-8200.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance requirements for Washington ballot measures

Total campaign contributions:
Support:	$0.00
Opposition:	$0.00

Ballotpedia did not identify any committees registered in support of or in opposition to the measure.

If you are aware of a committee registered to support or oppose this measure, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.

Background

Cascadia Subduction Zone

Describing the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), wrote, "Lying mostly offshore, the plate interface that is the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) is a giant fault approximately 700 miles long. At this location, the set of tectonic plates to the west is sliding (subducting) beneath the North American plate. Friction prevents movement of these two plates; ultimately, these plates are stuck. The stress of these boundaries is continuously building until the fault suddenly breaks, resulting in a potentially devastating 700-mile earthquake and ensuing tsunami along the California, Oregon, and Washington coastlines. Science points to a large 8.0-9.0 magnitude (CSZ) earthquake ripping across the 700-mile CSZ fault line on average once every 200 to 500 years. The last major CSZ earthquake and tsunami occurred in 1700. "

The University of Washington Natural Hazards program wrote, "A magnitude nine (M9) earthquake along the Cascadia fault would cause immense shaking, liquefaction, and trigger landslides and tsunamis from British Columbia to northern California. The resulting losses would cost tens of billions of dollars and thousands of human lives."

Implementing legislation: Senate Bill 5012

The implementing legislation, Senate Bill 5012, was a companion bill to the proposed constitutional amendment that outlines specific details in the Revised Code of Washington necessary to carry out the amendment. SB 5012 passed in the legislature on April 17, 2019, by votes of 37-11 in the Senate and 91 to seven in the House.

SB 5012 defines catastrophic incident as "any natural or human-caused incident, including terrorism and enemy attack, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions."

The full text of SB 5012 can be found here.

Continuity of government (COG) provisions in other states

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), continuity of government (COG) plans are designed so that that certain government functions can continue in cases of emergencies or disasters. According to data compiled by the NCSL as of 2015, emergency legislative succession laws triggered by catastrophic events exist in at least 20 states. Common provisions of COG plans include the succession of government officials, legislative quorum requirements, or the seat (location) of the government.

Article II, Section 42 of the Washington State Constitution

Section 42 of Article II in the Washington State Constitution was added via House Joint Resolution 9. HJR 9 was a legislative referral that was approved by voters in 1962 amid the Cuban Missile Crisis of the Cold War. It provided for continuity of government in the case of enemy attack.

2018 proposed amendment

The Washington Legislature considered an identical amendment in 2018 which passed unanimously in the Senate but did not receive a vote in the House before the legislature adjourned and therefore did not qualify for the 2018 ballot.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Washington Constitution

In Washington, a referred constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in each chamber of the Washington State Legislature during one legislative session.

The constitutional amendment was filed in the state legislature on December 7, 2018, as Senate Joint Resolution 8200 (SJR 8200).

On March 7, 2019, the Washington State Senate approved SJR 8200, with 37 senators supporting the amendment, 11 senators opposing the amendment, and one senator not voting. On April 17, 2019, the House approved the amendment in a vote of 91 to seven. All seven no votes came from Republican representatives.

Vote in the Washington State Senate March 7, 2019
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 33  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	37	11	1
Total percent	75.51%	22.45%	2.04%
Democrat	26	2	1
Republican	11	9	0

Vote in the Washington House of Representatives April 17, 2019
Requirement: Two-thirds (66.67 percent) vote of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 66  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	91	7	0
Total percent	92.86%	7.14%	0.00%
Democrat	57	0	0
Republican	34	7	0

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in Washington

Poll times

Washington is an all-mail voting state. Individuals who prefer to vote in person rather than by mail may do so at local voting centers, which are open for 18 days prior to the election. The voting period ends at 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. Contact your county elections department for more information on voting center locations and times.

Registration requirements

Check your voter registration status here.

To vote in Washington, one must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of the state, and at least 18 years of age.

One may register to vote online, by mail, or in-person at a county elections department. Registration must be completed eight days in advance if done by mail or online. In-person registration is available through Election Day.

In 2018, Washington lawmakers enacted legislation providing for same-day voter registration and automatic voter registration.

Automatic registration

Washington automatically registers eligible individuals to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles, health benefit exchange, and other state agencies approved by the governor.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

Washington has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.

Same-day registration

Washington allows same-day voter registration.

Residency requirements

Washington law requires 30 days of residency in the state before a person may vote.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

Washington does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote. According to the state's voter registration application, a voter who knowingly provides false information or knowingly make a false declaration about their qualifications "will have committed a class C felony that is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years, a fine of up to ten thousand dollars, or both."

All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters.

Verifying your registration

The site Vote WA, run by the Washington Secretary of State office, allows residents to check their voter registration status online.

Voter ID requirements

Washington is an all-mail voting state and does not require voters to present photo identification (ID). Voters may choose to vote in person at a local voting center. According to state law RCW 29A.40.160, “The county auditor shall require any person desiring to vote at a voting center to either sign a ballot declaration or provide identification.” Accepted forms of ID include driver's licenses, state ID cards, and student ID cards. For a list of all accepted forms of ID, see below.

The following list of accepted ID was current as of April 2023. Click here for the Washington State Legislature's voter ID regulations to ensure you have the most current information.

• Driver's license
• State identification card
• Student identification card
• Tribal identification card
• Employer identification card

See also

2019 measures

• 2019 ballot measures
• State legislatures measures on the ballot
• Administration of government on the ballot

Washington

• Washington ballot measures
• Washington ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Senate Joint Resolution 8200 (2019)
• Washington 2019 General Election Voters' Guide
• Washington 2019 General Election Voters' Guide (PDF version)