OLYMPIA - House committee members heard testimony on both sides of a bill affecting voting and assessments in the Moses Lake Rehabilitation District (MLIRD).

Sen. Janea Holmquist Newbry, R-Moses Lake, who is the sponsor of Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6512, said Friday that the legislation aims for more transparency and fairness in how the district operates.

She gave members of the House Local Government Committee a selection of correspondence from citizens and ratepayers in support of the bill, and said it's time to clear up longstanding issues within the MLIRD.

"Bottom line: if you're a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or conservative, or even a political agnostic, there are two principals that are nearly unanimously accepted by all Americans," she said. "The first is no taxation without representation and the second is one person, one vote. It's these two issues we're getting into with the bill before you."

ESSB 6512 says that beginning Jan. 1, 2013, the MLIRD board would only be allowed to increase the level of assessments following a public hearing and a vote of district land holders authorizing them to do so.

MLIRD chair and former state senator Mick Hansen, who joined Holmquist Newbry in support of the bill, said currently there's little keeping the board from raising assessments as much as they want over a period of time.

"They've gone from 25 cents, 50, 60, clear up to a dollar and never went to a vote of the people," he said. "Right now there's already talk about going to $1.22. School districts go to a vote of the people, everybody else goes to a vote of the people, when you start trying to raise their assessments and this is only right."

ESSB 6512 would also modify the process of MLIRD elections, requiring all ballots to be mailed in to the Grant County Auditor's office, where they'd be secured until counted by MLIRD staff under the supervision of the district secretary and board of directors.

While land owners currently receive two votes for each parcel held within the district, the bill would allow each district land owner a total of two votes, regardless of the size or number of parcels they hold.

Holmquist Newbry explained that when the district was formed in the 1960s, each parcel was tied to two votes because most were fairly uniform in size and the lake was used primarily for irrigation.

"Since then we have moved from a very rural environment to an urban environment where we have subdivided the property," she said. "We've created this voter inequity where one person can have over 200 votes while another person with maybe just one piece of property only gets two votes."

Hansen also addressed the perceived voting inequality.

"We've got people out here that own hundreds of acres and if they're not broken into parcels then they get two votes," Hansen said. "But if you take 10 acres and break it into a bunch of little pieces, all of a sudden they've got voting capacity that's 10 times what the other person has."

But Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, highlighted another perspective.

"I can see the equity issue on the one side but I can also see the equity issue on the other side," she said. "You are responsible for paying the assessment on 100 pieces or on 50 pieces or on 12 pieces (of property) but you are only allowed two votes versus someone who's paying assessments on one piece who's also allowed two votes."

Holmquist Newbry responded district voters will continue to be assessed on the value of their property, and said the bill simply attempts to disburse equal voting power to all district stakeholders.

"For example, the national elections - if it was based on the amount of pieces of property you have, Warren Buffet and Ted Turner would literally run our national elections," she said.

Speaking in opposition to ESSB 6512, Moses Lake businessman and property owner Jeff Foster brought a different analogy to the issue of voter inequality.

He said the new voting rule could undermine the MLIRD's benefit to property holders, and likened the district to a community-funded water well serving ten lots. If seven of the lots are owned by a single developer, three are owned by individuals and all the owners get one vote each, Foster pointed out the minority would have the voting power, while the developer would be stuck paying the majority of the well's cost.

He was joined by Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Debbie Doran-Martinez, who was in Olympia on behalf of the chamber's board of directors as well as the Moses Lake Business Association.

Doran-Martinez said many chamber members have varying concerns with the bill, but the one constant is its lack of public process. She called for more ratepayer input before the bill moves forward.

"We feel the citizens that this bill affects should be allowed the opportunity to be aware of this legislation and the impact it will have on them," she said.

"I'm trying to understand what is it about the legislative process that shortchanged you?" asked Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines. "We're at a public hearing now. What about the legislative process has not been appropriate or adequate?"

Foster and Doran-Martinez found no fault in the process observed by the house and senate, but rather with the bill's proponents, who they said crafted the bill with no communication with MLIRD staff or stakeholders.

"(Sen. Holmquist Newbry) speaks to need for transparency and to be fair and equitable," Foster said. "In my opinion the contents of the bill and the manner in which this has come about is anything but fair and equitable."

"We've heard your concerns about the process," said Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim. "Other than that, do you have objections to the specific language of the bill, which seems to me to be a more transparent process with notification and the voting seems to be more fair?"

Foster replied that most of those he's spoken with see some good aspects to the bill, including changes to how elections are run, but he has major concerns about the equity between who's paying the bill and who's getting the voting power.

"This is a service district, not similar to a school bond levy, not similar to election of president of United States, it's for the benefit of the users and the owners of the property in the district," he said.

Doran-Martinez asked the committee to kill the bill for the session, allowing the issue to be taken back to district ratepayers for more thorough discussion before changing legislation that has been in place for decades.

"What is the hurry? We would like to do it right the first time," she said.

ESSB 6512 was passed by Senate committee and a full vote of the Senate and is scheduled for an executive session in the House Committee on Local Government Feb. 21.

If passed by House committee, the bill would still need to be voted on by the full House of Representatives prior to the end of the session in early March.