(1) The people may propose amendments to the Charter by filing a charter initiative petition with the filing officer.

(2) Any legal voter, or organization of legal voters of Pierce County may file a charter initiative proposal with the filing officer, who within five business days after receipt thereof, shall give the proposed charter initiative a number, which shall thereafter be the identifying number for the measure. The filing voter or organization shall submit the petition in substantially the same form and style as prescribed for state initiatives by Chapter 29A.72 RCW and Chapter 434-379 WAC, as now enacted or hereinafter amended.

(3) The filing officer shall then transmit a copy of the proposal to the Prosecuting Attorney who, within 15 business days after receipt thereof, shall formulate a concise statement, posed as a positive question, not to exceed 75 words, which shall express and give a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure. Such concise statement will be the ballot title.

(4) The petitioner then has 180 calendar days to collect the signatures of the registered voters of the County equal in number to not less than 20 percent of the number of votes cast (to include votes cast for candidates and write-ins, not to include overvotes or undervotes) in the County in the last election for the office of Executive. Each petition shall contain the full text of the proposed amendment to the Charter and the ballot title.

(5) The filing officer shall verify the sufficiency of the signatures on the petition, and if it is validated, submit the proposal to the people at the next general election occurring not less than 120 calendar days after submittal of signatures to the filing officer for validation. (Amendment No. 49 proposed by Ordinance No. 2018-52, Approved November 6, 2018; Originally Adopted November 5, 1996, Amendment No. 16)