Opinion ID: 2262083
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the scope of local initiative power

Text: ¶ 8 With Amendment 7 to the Washington Constitution, the people secured for themselves the right to legislate directly. Wash. Const. art. II, § 1; Ruano v. Spellman, 81 Wash.2d 820, 823, 505 P.2d 447 (1973). However, Amendment 7 does not apply to municipal governments, which under our constitution are not fully sovereign. Wash. Const. art. II, § 1; 1000 Friends, 159 Wash.2d at 167, 149 P.3d 616; Lauterbach v. City of Centralia, 49 Wash.2d 550, 554, 304 P.2d 656 (1956) (A municipal corporation is a body politic established by law as an agency of the statepartly to assist in the civil government of the county, but chiefly to regulate and administer the local and internal affairs of the incorporated city, town, or district (citing Columbia Irrigation Dist. v. Benton County, 149 Wash. 234, 235, 270 P. 813 (1928))). While our constitution does not extend the initiative and referendum power to cities, our legislature has authorized, but has not required, noncharter code cities like Port Angeles to enact enabling legislation authorizing referendums and initiatives. RCW 35A.11.080. [2] But neither article II, section 1 nor RCW 35A.11.080 encompasses the power to administer the law, and administrative matters, particularly local administrative matters, are not subject to initiative or referendum. Ruano, 81 Wash.2d at 823, 505 P.2d 447 (citing Ford v. Logan, 79 Wash.2d 147, 154, 483 P.2d 1247 (1971)).