OLYMPIA–Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5824 sponsored by Senators Sam Hunt, D-Olympia; Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines; Patty Kuderer, D-Bellevue; Marko Liias, D-Edmonds; and T'wina Nobles, D-Fircrest, which changes requirements to place a library initiative on the ballot. The measure was in response to a ballot proposition to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library District (CCRLD) in 2023.

The SB5824 requires that petition signatures from the voting populace be increased to 25% (instead of the 35% requested in committee) from the original 10% to validate. It also allows all qualified voters of a library district to vote on the proposition.

The original proposition was a consequence relating to a group of concerned citizens who opposed sexually explicit reading material directed toward minor children. Library officials were asked to move said books to a more appropriate location in the library, other than the children's section located downstairs.

"Local citizens attempted on multiple occasions to negotiate book placement policies involving age inappropriate sexually explicit materials in our children's section of the library (ages 1-17)," said Jessica Ruffcorn. "All requests were to relocate, not ban books." (Full disclosure: Ruffcorn became a staff member of this newspaper after the court granted the restraining order.)

Frustrated with a non-response from then Library Director Todd Vandenbark and the Columbia County Rural Library Board of Trustees (CCRLD), Ruffcorn initiated and circulated a petition that would place an initiative on the ballot to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library District. "Before this new initiative, we found out well into the petition process that city voters would not be able to vote on the dissolution process," said Ruffcorn. "This is why the first petition failed. Many of the signatures were from city voters. The second petition, which was certified as sufficient, included only county voter signatures, and was well above the 10 percent threshold."

In 2005, the City of Dayton relinquished its interest in fully financially supporting a public library on its own, opting to join with the more beneficial resources with the county. The City then voted to annex with the county, which the language of the law inadvertently excluded city tax payers and city registered voters from voting on any library ballot measure; only registered county voters were eligible.

After gathering over 10% of the required number of registered voters' signatures, the proposition was placed on the ballot. Columbia County Auditor William Hutchens certified that the petition met the qualifications to be placed on the ballot, therefore requiring the CCRLD board to approve the placement of the measure on the ballot. "Currently, the Columbia County Rural Library District is the only tax district that is not elected...[and] currently handles a budget of over a half a million dollars," said Ruffcorn. "The voters and taxpayers have no say in who will be entrusted with that task."

The Neighbors United for Progress (NUP), a local political action group, retained legal counsel and filed suit asking a judge to grant an injunction to remove the proposition from the ballot, which was granted. During the 2024 legislative session, NUP president Elise Severe testified before the Senate State Government and Elections Committee on January 9. In her testimony she alleged a small group attempted to censor books at the local library, but failed. They then petitioned to close the library.

"Last year a small aggressive group tried to censor books at the rural library," said Severe in the Senate hearing. "When they failed, they tried to close our library. Under existing law, they only needed ten percent of voters from outside city limits, to sign a petition and get it on ballot. Two thirds of the library tax payers within the city of Dayton and they would have had no vote on the matter. Our rural library district had the potential to become the first in our nation to dissolve by the voters."

The NUP petitioned the court to halt the ballot measure and succeeded. "When we (NUP) challenged the petition, the Columbia County Superior Court Commissioner [Julie Karl] ruled that the ballot measure was unconstitutional by excluding city tax payers and the signatures were gathered under the guise of fraud," said Severe. "Raising the petition-signature requirement to thirty five percent ensures the will of voters is better represented. Groups are using this law as a loop hole to close library districts in an organized effort to ban books. This is an important political issue in our state and we need to send a message with good governance that it will not be easy to tear down democracy."

When Gov. Inslee signed SB5824, the NUP were glad the bill will allow all to vote on library issues. "We are very glade everyone will have the opportunity to vote on library measures," said Severe this week.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs agreed on the premise of increasing the percentage of required signatures to place an initiative on the ballot. "...[W]hen the judge stopped the vote from going forward, we just took that language to clean up the statute to make sure those who are being serviced by the library would have an opportunity to vote, and decide if they wanted the library dissolved or not," said Hobbs. "And then, of course, which was not in their [language] but we thought was fair to increase the percentage threshold from ten percent to thirty five percent. We chose thirty-five per cent because that was required to remove somebody from office," Hobbs continued.

Alex Hur, a representative of the Inatai Foundation, a 501 (c) (4) organization working to advance equity and racial justice across Washington State, said "This issue was directly brought up by the current law in the library district dissolution process, and [SB]5824 would allow more community members to utilize and rely on a rural library to vote on its fate.

"The bill would be an opportunity to safe guard rural libraries, like the one in Columbia County, in keeping books, internet, and other resources available for everyone. Looking beyond libraries, 5824 is about protecting democracy, promoting equitable governance, and giving power back to rural communities by ensuring their voices are properly represented, and we urge your support."

This legislation will go into effect June 6, 2024