As is discussed in detail in Chapter Two [see Chapter Two, “Commissioners and Their Election”], public hospital districts are governed by a board of district commissioners who are elected officials. Each board must have a president and a secretary. RCW 70.44.040 and RCW 70.44.053 provide that the board may be comprised of three, five, or seven members. Each commissioner may represent a particular district within the whole of the public hospital district (where they must reside), or hold an at-large position.

The notion of commissioner districts is common to many types of special purpose districts. In theory, the establishment of commissioner districts allows commissioners to represent geographic constituencies.

From a practical standpoint, commissioner districts do not always serve a vital purpose. This can be the case with public hospital districts. Therefore, commissioners may also be elected on a strictly at-large basis, or a public hospital district may have a combination of geographic commissioner districts and at-large positions.

The remainder of this section describes how commissioners districts are created, maintained, and abolished.

Commissioner districts may be created at the same time that a public hospital district is formed. RCW 70.44.040 provides that the county commissioners of the county or counties in which the proposed public hospital district is located must determine by resolution whether district board members will be elected from either three, five, or seven commissioner districts, or at-large positions, or both. Then the electorate chooses commissioners on the same ballot as it considers the proposition for forming a public hospital district. The terms of the inaugural board members are fixed by statute, ranging from one to six years, to ensure that commissioner vacancies will be staggered as evenly as possible. The terms of office are formulated so that the commissioners receiving the greater number of votes at the initial election will serve the longer terms of office.

Once the hospital district and commissioner districts have been established, voters of the entire public hospital district may vote at a primary or general election to elect a person as a commissioner of the commissioner district. [RCW 70.44.040(2)]

State law declares that it is the responsibility of each municipal corporation to periodically redistrict its governmental unit based on population information from the most recent federal decennial census. No later than eight months after receipt of federal decennial census information applicable to the district, the board of commissioners must prepare a plan for redistricting its commissioner districts. The plan must take the following into account:

• Each commissioner district shall be as nearly equal in population as possible to each and every other commissioner district.

• Each commissioner district shall be as compact as possible.

• Each commissioner district shall consist of a geographically contiguous area.

• Population data may not be used for purposes of favoring or disfavoring any racial group or political party.

• The commissioner district boundaries shall coincide with existing recognized natural boundaries and shall, to the extent possible, preserve existing communities of related and mutual interest.

Before the board adopts a redistricting proposal, the board must hold a hearing on the proposal at least one (1) week before the date of adoption. [RCW 29.70]

Any registered voter residing in a commissioner district affected by the redistricting plan may request review of the plan by the superior court of the county in which he/she resides within 45 days of the plan’s adoption. A request for review must specify the reasons alleged why the local plan is not consistent with the applicable redistricting criteria (paragraphs A through E, set forth above). The superior court will review the challenged plan for compliance with the criteria. If the court finds the plan to be consistent with the criteria, the plan shall take effect immediately. If the court determines that the plan does not meet the criteria, it must remand the plan to the board of commissioners for corrective action within a specified and reasonable time period. Finally, if the court finds that a request for review is frivolous or has been filed solely for purposes of harassment or delay, it may impose appropriate sanctions on the party requesting review, including payment of attorney’s fees and costs to the district.

Practical Considerations

Federal decennial census population information is available in several different forms. The information can be as detailed as population per city block, per precinct, or per federal census tract. Usually, federal census tracts are the largest meaningful area. Therefore, federal census tracts make for a convenient tool to adjust the population of commissioner districts. This means that the internal commissioner district boundaries will follow the federal census tract lines. These lines generally will not follow the precinct lines which are commonly used for dividing political districts. Because all district residents are entitled to vote for each commissioner, it is inconsequential if a federal census tract line bisects a precinct. In other words, it will not create a situation where a portion of the voters in a precinct votes for one candidate and the rest of the voters in the same precinct vote for another candidate. Federal census tracts are well established and should change less frequently than precincts. In addition, a significant amount of demographic information is available by census tract which makes for convenient marketing data from each commissioner district.

Existing commissioner districts may, by resolution of the board members, be abolished, permitting candidates for any position on the board to reside anywhere in the public hospital district. Commissioner districts can then be reestablished at any general or special election called for that purpose, either by resolution of board members or on petition of the voters. [RCW 70.44.042]