WASHINGTON STATUTES AND CODES

35A.12.130 - Ordinances -- Style -- Requisites -- Veto.

Ordinances — Style — Requisites — Veto.

The enacting clause of all ordinances shall be as follows: "The city council of the city of . . . . . . do ordain as follows:" No ordinance shall contain more than one subject and that must be clearly expressed in its title.

     No ordinance or any section or subsection thereof shall be revised or amended unless the new ordinance sets forth the revised ordinance or the amended section or subsection at full length.

     No ordinance shall take effect until five days after the date of its publication unless otherwise provided by statute or charter, except that an ordinance passed by a majority plus one of the whole membership of the council, designated therein as a public emergency ordinance necessary for the protection of public health, public safety, public property or the public peace, may be made effective upon adoption, but such ordinance may not levy taxes, grant, renew, or extend a franchise, or authorize the borrowing of money.

     Every ordinance which passes the council in order to become valid must be presented to the mayor; if he or she approves it, he or she shall sign it, but if not, he or she shall return it with his or her written objections to the council and the council shall cause his or her objections to be entered at large upon the journal and proceed to a reconsideration thereof. If upon reconsideration a majority plus one of the whole membership, voting upon a call of ayes and nays, favor its passage, the ordinance shall become valid notwithstanding the mayor's veto. If the mayor fails for ten days to either approve or veto an ordinance, it shall become valid without his or her approval. Ordinances shall be signed by the mayor and attested by the clerk.

[2009 c 549 § 3013; 1967 ex.s. c 119 § 35A.12.130.]