Thumbs up,Thumbs down

Kennewick leaders honored

“Because of Bob’s big and open heart, Kennewick is a much better place,” said Thomas Moak, the 1995 Kennewick Man of the Year, about the 2016 honoree, former Kennewick City Manager Bob Kelly during the annual Kennewick Man and Woman of the year banquet this week.

Kelly served as Kennewick city manager for 14 years before retiring in 2003. In retirement, he threw himself into Tri-City civic life. He has chaired the Kennewick Kiwanis Club’s fundraising committee and served as past president and co-founder of the Columbia Basin Badger Club. He served on the boards of the the Tri-Cities Cancer Center’s Men’s Club and the Tri-City Development Council. He was an active supporter of the Playground of Dreams at Columbia Park and drove for Meals on Wheels.

Maureen Bell, Kennewick Woman of the Year, was lauded as a “woman to be reckoned with.” Like Kelly, she is an active member of Kennewick Kiwanis. She worked for Kennewick schools for 26 years as a librarian and served on the board of RSVP, which provides school supplies to at-risk students. She’s an original board member of the Literacy Connection Group that brings authors to Kennewick schools.

She is a participant in Terrific Kids, a volunteer program that provides students at Amistad Elementary with a mentor and is involved in numerous other volunteer boards.

Thumbs up to Kelly and Bell for all they’ve done to make the Kennewick community a wonderful place to live.

Thumbs up also to Soroptimists International of Pasco-Kennewick and the Kennewick Past Men of the Year Club for presenting the annual awards, that date back to 1946.

Legislators circumventing the Constitution

The Washington Constitution includes a provision to prevent legislators from considering bills introduced at the last minute. The provision is designed to make sure the public has a chance to learn about the legislation and provide comment.

Article 2, Section 36 of the constitution says “No bill shall be considered in either house unless the time of its introduction shall have been at least ten days before the final adjournment of the legislature, unless the legislature shall otherwise direct by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house.”

But the crafters of that language underestimated the cleverness of the members of our state legislators and their proclivity for finding ways to avoid public scrutiny.

The constitution fails to spell out that a bill, submitted by a legislator for consideration in the House or Senate, must actually say something when it’s submitted.

So legislators who either fail to prepare their bill by the deadline, or who want to avoid public review of what they want to do to us can simply submit what’s called “title-only bills.” They’re called that because the bill contains little more than a title when submitted. The language gets worked out later — often at the last minute.

Use of this clever path around the constitution has become common practice. A list of title-only bills submitted the past two years can be found on the Washington State Legislature website.

Through use of title-only bills legislators allow themselves to act on issues ranging from education to corrections to human services to local government and more in violation of the intent of the constitution.

It’s wrong and it’s time for legislators to hold themselves accountable.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Thumbs up,Thumbs down."