State ex rel. Hindley v. Superior Court

Citations

• 70 Wash. 352
• 126 P. 920
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1055

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Ordinances—Amendment — Initiative Power — Petition—Consideration—Presumptions. Under a city charter providing that the city clerk shall file and present to the city council an initiative petition by 15 per cent of the electors, and that the city council shall, within ten days, either pass the ordinance without alteration or submit it to popular vote, the petition will be held :prima facie sufficient, where the council delayed all action and there is no affirmative showing that it considered or rejected the petition on the ground of insufficiency.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations — Charters—Amendments—Elections— General or Special. Const., art. 11, § 10, providing that a city charter “may” be amended by proposals therefor submitted to the electors at “any general election,” does not exclude other methods; hence, under the constitutional authority to cities of the first class to adopt special charters not “inconsistent” with the constitution and laws, a city may provide for proposed amendments to its special charter to be submitted to the electors at a special election.</p> <p>Same — Charters—Scope op Amendments. Amendments to a special charter of a city of the first class that may be submitted at a special election are not confined to those that are only revisory or supplemental, but include those which alter or annul the basic principle upon which the city government is founded.</p> <p>Same — Scope—Statutes—As “Now” Provided. A provision in a city charter authorizing the city to submit the matter of proposed amendments to the electors in the manner “as is now provided,” refers to the charter at the time the amendment is proposed, and not to the time when the law was passed.</p> <p>Same — Submission to Voters — Wards—Proceedings. A proposed amendment to a city charter is not insufficient in that it requires the election of alderman by wards when there are at present no wards in the city; that being a mere detail for which the city council can