CCRLD played role in Senate Bill 5824
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April 4, 2024
Courtesy Photo
Dayton residents Tanya Patton (6th from left) and Elise Severe (second from right) were invited to attend the Bill-Signing at the capital.
OLYMPIA - On Tuesday, March 26, Senate Bill 5824, sponsored by Sen. Sam Hunt (D-Olympia) and requested by Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, was signed into law in Olympia. The bill raised the required number of petitioners from 10% to 25% of eligible voters. In addition, eligible voters include all residents who pay taxes to fund the library district.
"The Dayton library was on the verge of becoming the first library in the country to shut down because of a dispute over the books inside," Hunt said. "We're just trying to give all people a fair say in what happens to their library and not let minority rule."
In 2023, petitioners collected the required signatures from rural taxpayers to put Proposition 2 on the November 2023 ballot. The measure would ask voters to dissolve the rural library district.
The petition was filed by organizers per legislation covering rural library districts, which excluded incorporated area (City of Dayton) taxpayers from participating in the petition or ballot measure. Neighbors United for Progress members Elise Severe and Gerald Kaiser filed a lawsuit in Columbia County Superior Court challenging the statute's constitutionality based on taxation without representation.
The court decided for the plaintiffs, preventing the measure from being included on the ballot.
Columbia Superior Court Commissioner Julie Karl presided over the hearing. She said, "It doesn't make sense to have people that live in the county be the only ones that vote on something that so affects the citizens of the city." Karl said. "We settled taxation without representation a long time ago."
After the court found the dissolution procedure unconstitutional under federal and state constitutions, Senate Bill 5824 was passed with bipartisan support, ensuring voters paying into a library district will have a say on its future.
Dayton residents Tanya Patton and Severe atended the bill-signing ceremony at the capital. Severe said, "When our library's existence was threatened, Neighbors United knew we needed to stand up for what was right. If our community was going to vote on dissolving the only public library, it needed to be a fair vote allowing every registered voter within the library taxing district."
The legislation goes into effect June 6, 2024.
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