Governor Inslee Signs the new Rural Library Bill

Gov. Inslee, flanked by Sen. Sam Hunt, the bill’s lead sponsor and Elise Severe of Neighbors United for Progress.

This afternoon, Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5824 into law. This law redefines the rules of dissolving Rural Library Districts.

Last September, a small group of attempted to disband the Columbia Rural Library District and close Dayton’s library. Neighbors United for Progress (NUP), a local political action committee, sued to stop the dissolution on the grounds that the law that defined the process was unconstitutional. Columbia County Commissioner Court Julie Karl agreed with NUP.

“It doesn’t make sense to have people who live in the county be the only ones who vote on something that so much affects citizens of the city, Karl said from the bench. “We did away with taxation without representation a long time ago.”

In January, Senator Sam Hunt and other legislators sponsored SB 5824 to replace the unconstitutional prior law. The bill moved swiftly through both houses and received wide support Democrats and Republicans.

The new law provides that an initiative to dissolve a library district will require a petition signed by at least 25% of the voters in that district to be placed on an election ballot. It also allows all voters residing in the library district to vote in that election, not just those who live in the county’s unincorporated area.