Form revised April 10, 2006

FISCAL NOTE FOR NON-CAPITAL PROJECTS

Department:	Contact Person/Phone:	DOF Analyst/Phone:
Legislative	Martha Lester / 4-8149	NA

Legislation Title:

A RESOLUTION submitting a proposition to the qualified electors of the City, at an election to be held on November 7, 2006, to amend Subsection 13.B of Article IV of the Charter of the City of Seattle to change the manner of compiling passed ordinances for public access; calling on the City Clerk to certify the proposed amendment to the Director of the Department of Records and Elections of King County and requesting and directing such Director to call a special election and submit the proposition to City voters; and providing for the publication of such proposed amendment.

· Summary of the Legislation:

This resolution would submit a proposition to Seattle voters to amend the City Charter to change the manner of compiling passed ordinances for public access.

· Background: (Include brief description of the purpose and context of legislation and include record of previous legislation and funding history, if applicable):

The Seattle City Charter currently directs the City Clerk to annually print one hundred bound books with "substantial covers" containing the text of ordinances that were published in the newspaper that year ("Compilations"), and to make them available to the public at no cost.  In 1993 the City Clerk became aware that large numbers of those one hundred "Compilations" produced each year were undistributed, resulting in wasted paper, and unnecessary use of valuable storage space and City funds for printing.  The City Clerk conducted surveys from 1994 to 2000 of previous recipients of the "Compilations" to determine whether they actually wanted and/or used the "Compilation" they received each year and determined that there was virtually no interest in receiving the “Compilation.”  In addition, in 1996 the City Clerk's Office began to realize great success providing accurate and complete records of the same information in electronic databases accessible via the Internet.  An electronic equivalent of the “Compilation” is now provided, which allows easy access to the same information as was contained in the printed “Compilation.”  Therefore, the Council proposes this Charter amendment to change the manner of compiling passed ordinances for public access.

· Please check one of the following:

__X_ This legislation does not have any financial implications. (Stop here and delete the remainder of this document prior to saving and printing.)