Title
A MOTION calling on the Washington State Legislature to adopt the Washington State Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Act (Initiative-1000) to ensure every resident of Washington state has equal opportunity and access to public education, public employment and public contracting.
Body
WHEREAS, Motion 15281 established King County's State Legislative Agenda, including a focus on ensuring the fair treatment of underserved groups in public employment, education and contracting, and
WHEREAS, the first national reference to affirmative action was made by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 in an executive order directing government contractors to take "affirmative action to ensure applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin," and
WHEREAS, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and issued an executive order that created the means to enforce affirmative action policies for the first time, and
WHEREAS affirmative action admissions programs were taken up by public and private universities in the late 1960s and 1970s, and
WHEREAS, in November 1998, Washington state voters passed Initiative 200, which prohibited preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public contracting, public hiring and public education, and
WHEREAS, in December 1998, Governor Locke issued Directive No. 98-01 to guide state agencies in implementing this Initiative and it stated that "Race, sex, color, ethnicity and national origin may not be used in final selection of an applicant for public employment, unless allowed under section 4 of I-200," and
WHEREAS, "affirmative action" is generally defined as an active effort to improve the employment of educational opportunities of people of color and women, and
WHEREAS, 395,000 signatures were gathered in support of Initiative 1000 ("I-1000"), the largest total of signatures ever gathered in ...

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