Now
that I-200 is Law, What's Next?
Now
that I-200 is Law, What's Next? Thursday, November 5, 1998
by Tom Brune
Seattle Times staff reporter
December 3 will mark a new series of firsts.
The hundreds of people applying for government jobs next month will be the first to be hired - or passed over - under new state policies that prohibit taking race and gender into account.
The scores of contractors and companies bidding for state business will be the first to get public contracts that will probably no longer require participation by minority- or women-owned firms.
And the roughly 500 transfer students entering classes at the University of Washington next spring will be the first admitted under race-blind admission policies.
That's because on Dec. 3, Initiative 200, which promises to roll back government affirmative action, becomes law.
For policymakers in the state's 3,000 cities, counties, school districts and other public agencies, I-200 is no longer an academic exercise. For them, the long, and likely litigious, process of turning a vague ballot measure into law has begun.
They have 30 days to do it.
Yesterday, the day after I-200 passed with an overwhelming majority, officials at agencies as different as Seattle city government, King County government and the Seattle Board of Education began considering their obligations and their options.
King County Executive Ron Sims said yesterday the overall effects of I-200 on county operations will be minimal.
He believes the county fits one of the exemptions allowed under the initiative, which says a public agency doesn't have to end policies that would result in the loss of federal funds. He said every county agency receives some federal funds that require affirmative-action policies.
Both Sims and Seattle Mayor Paul Schell believe the initiative will have little effect on their hiring practices because they've already met most of their affirmative-action goals.
UW President Richard McCormick announced that the university was taking steps to suspend use of race and gender in student admissions. It will take effect starting with next spring's transfers and apply to all applicants after that.
The Seattle public-school district has several areas where I-200 is likely to require changes or raise questions, said Mark Green, the district's general counsel.
The district's $357 million, 20-school construction program is certain to be affected because it includes set-asides for minority- and women-owned firms in architectural, engineering and construction contracts. Two design contracts and 11 construction contracts totaling approximately $200 million are scheduled for bid during the next three years, he said.
The initiative also could affect teacher recruitment and the district's student-assignment plan. In some cases, Green said, decisions about admissions to schools are based on race as a "tiebreaker" when more students apply than a school can enroll. That sometimes works in favor of minorities and sometimes in favor of whites.
Ironically, most officials are looking for guidance on how to interpret the measure from Gov. Gary Locke, who put his prestige and popularity to work during the campaign to defeat I-200.
Locke yesterday formed a committee of state-agency officials to study how the law will affect state programs. He said he hopes the group is ready to make its recommendations by December.
Legal questions abound
I-200, modeled after California's successful Proposition 209, bans state and local governments from granting preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity and national origin in public employment, public contracting and public education.
That sounds simple. But it's not, public officials say. Just weeks before the election, the state Attorney General's Office released a 30-page memo that said the measure raised nine key legal issues and dozens more questions.
Chief among those questions is how to define "preferential treatment."
Officials must also unravel how I-200 affects existing state laws and regulations that currently require affirmative-action policies. I-200 doesn't repeal those laws. So policymakers must compare the new with the old, decide if they can coexist or if one or the other prevails.
John Carlson, chairman of the I-200 campaign, said the language of the initiative is not as vague as opponents and government officials say. He is forming an organization to monitor compliance with the new law.
"We look forward to working with state and local governments and schools to make that happen," he said, even if that means going to court.
"We anticipate legal steps, but we think that (California's Proposition) 209 has answered those questions in federal court," he said. "We'll be there to make sure the initiative is implemented."
Locke said despite his personal opposition, he would "apply the law in a fair and even-handed manner." Yet Locke believes recruitment, outreach and retention programs can be saved under I-200.
"I believe in making sure that we consider groups of individuals who might not otherwise be considered or who don't fit the historical, traditional mold, and maybe that's more an emphasis on outreach and recruitment, but clearly we will make sure that we never use race or gender as the basis for hiring." Locke said the post-election analysis he has read leads him to believe voters ". . . felt we needed to amend affirmative action but not necessarily end it."
Passage of I-200 was a major concern for the 3,000-member National Association of Black Journalists, which considered boycotting the Unity 99 convention in Seattle next year if I-200 passed.
However, the association's board voted 12-5 last night to participate in the conference despite the initiative's passage, according to sources.
The conference will bring 8,000 minority journalists here.
Seattle Times staff reporters Kery Murakami, David Postman, Dick Lilly and David Schaefer contributed to this report.
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and Diversity Page
Carl
Gutiérrez-Jones
Department of English
University of California, Santa Barbara
e-mail: carlgj@humanitas.ucsb.edu