A movement away?

 

November 14, 2019



The House Executive Rules Committee is a five-member committee within the Washington State House of Representatives consisting of the Speaker of the House; the House Majority Leader; the House Majority Caucus Chair; the House Minority Leader; and the House Deputy Minority Leader. The committee was created on the final day of the 2019 legislative session by House Resolution 4642, without a vote of the House, and with the consent of the House in that there was no objection when it was proposed. According to HR 4642, the committee was formed for the purpose of continuing the work of the House of Representatives after its adjournment and during interim periods between legislative sessions.

According to the Chief Clerk of the Washington State House of Representatives, the committee exerted its authority in ordering a $120,000 investigation of a House member’s political activities without a specific appropriation of funds and without a public solicitation process. The only available record of the ordering of the investigation is the personal services contract signed on July 29, 2019, by only the Chief Clerk and the CEO of the private investigation firm. The contract requires a broad, open-ended investigation of political activities without stating a basis for the investigation. Any records of committee actions or meeting minutes pertaining to the $120,000 personal services contract are not available through the Washington State House of Representatives Public Records Officer.

I am concerned that the apparent authority of this powerful committee could potentially be used to regulate political activities of elected officials or possibly others, either now or in the future.

The apparent actions of this small, but powerful committee are potentially a movement of state government away from the republican form of government that is guaranteed by Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States and by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the State of Washington.

Kevin Akesson,

Colfax

 

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