Joint Select Committee names vice chairs, agrees to pursue citizens assembly planning

The Joint Select Committee on Civic Health selected vice chairs and gave conditional approval to further design work on a citizens assembly.

The chair moved that "Senator Vercelli and Representative Bernard be named vice chairs," the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. "The ayes have it," the chair said after members answered in the affirmative. The meeting then turned to a presentation on citizens assemblies from Dr. Julia Carboni of the Ruckelshaus Center.

Dr. Carboni described a proposal for a statewide, advisory citizens assembly to deliver recommendations to the legislature in fall 2027. She said the process would use sortition and stratified sampling from registered voters across Washington’s 39 counties and emphasized that the committee was not being asked for state funding now: "We're not asking for money," she said, adding that initial fundraising from philanthropic partners was expected to seed a pilot.

Members expressed general support for moving from design to a formal proposal. The chair asked Carboni to return with a written plan and to conduct a workshop to help the committee shape the assembly's remit. "We'll come back to this group, for next steps, including potentially a workshop on building that remit," Carboni said.