Like the U.S. Constitution for the nation and the Washington State Constitution for the state, the King County Charter is the foundational document for the county and establishes the basic role and function of County government. As such, it is deliberately designed to be difficult to amend. The U.S. Constitution requires both a super-majority of the 50 state legislatures and a vote of the people to be amended. Similarly, the State Constitution requires a super-majority of the state legislature and a vote of the people to be amended. The King County Home Rule Charter adopted in 1969 required a simple majority Council vote followed by a vote of the people to adopt Charter amendments.

However, in 2003 the State Supreme Court decided that the County Charter could be amended by citizen initiative—a power already in place for adoption of ordinances. In this decision, the Court gave its opinion that the voters constituted the ultimate legislative authority, and that they as such were entitled to amend the Charter just as the County Council could. According to the Charter language on general initiatives (not Charter Amendments), once an initiative is submitted, the Council may adopt it outright, may send it to the ballot, or may adopt a substitute ordinance to the one submitted by initiative. In the latter case a two-step process begins. In the first step a ballot question asks whether citizens wish to adopt or reject either; if voters choose to adopt the measure, in the second step, they then vote on the initiative and the substitute and approve one.

Initiative 25 in 2007 and Initiative 26 in 2008 are the first such citizen initiatives since the 2003 test case to attempt to amend the Charter.

• I-25 would make the County Elections Director an elective office. Charter Amendment 25 was placed on the ballot in November 2007 as the first step and was supported by the voters. The second voter election will be in November 2008.

• I-26 would make the County Executive, Assessor and Council nonpartisan and would amend the County districting process. In the first step of the process, Charter Amendment 26 is on the ballot for the August 19, 2008 primary ballot. If voters vote in the affirmative, the second step would place the measure on the November 2008 ballot for final approval.

The 2008 Charter Review Commission has proposed an amendment to clarify and simplify the complex, two-step process for Charter amendments described above. It was included with eleven other Charter Amendments in their Final Recommendations presented to the Council in June 2008. The Commission’s stated goal is ”to retain a stable Charter framework and eliminate the need for multiple votes on a single Charter Amendment.” The Commission also recommended a higher signature threshold of 20% of the votes cast for the office of King County Executive in the most recent election, rather than the 10% required for citizen-sponsored initiatives for County ordinances. It may be approved by the Council and be before County voters for the November 2008 election.