Code Reviser: Difference between revisions

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The '''Code Reviser''' is an official in the government of the [[United States]]a [[State of Washington]] chargedgovernment withofficial responsible for harmonizing the laws of the state and advising legislators on questions of style in the preparation of bills.

==History==

===Establishment===

In the first half-century of statehood, there was no official compilation of the laws of the state. Two private publishers independently compiled and published statutes enacted by the Washington state legislature into bound volumes: Remington Revised Statutes and Pierce's Perpetual Code. In 1951 the legislature enacted a common numbering system for the state's laws and published an official codex known as the [[Revised Code of Washington]] (RCW). The publication of the RCW was accompanied by the creation of the office of Code Reviser.<ref name="oral">{{cite book |last=Anne |first=Kilgannon |date= |title=Richard O. White: Washington State Code Reviser |url=http://apps.leg.wa.gov/oralhistory/white/white-interview.pdf |___location= |publisher=Office of the Washington Secretary of State |page= |isbn= |accessdateaccess-date=17 September 2014 }}</ref>

===List of Code Revisers===

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|K. Kyle Thiessen<ref name="spokes" />

|2006–2018

|2006–Present

|

|

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|Kathleen Buchli<ref>{{Cite web|title=Washington State Legislature Contact Us|url=http://leg.wa.gov/legislature/Pages/ContactUs.aspx|website=leg.wa.gov|access-date=2020-05-07}}</ref>

|2018-Present

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==Duties and office==

[[File:Washington_State_Register.png|thumb|left|The Code Reviser appoints the editor of the "Washington State Register," the government gazette.]]

The office of the Code Reviser is established in the [[Revised Code of Washington]]. They are appointed by the Statute Law Committee, which consists of four members of the legislature (two from each of the two largest political parties), an attorney appointed by the Washington State Bar, an attorney appointed by the [[Governor of Washington]], a justice of the [[Washington Supreme Court]] (or an attorney appointed by the Chief Justice), and four professional staff members employed by the legislature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/Pages/AboutCRO.aspx|title=Code Reviser - About |website=leg.wa.gov|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-08}}</ref> By law, the Code Reviser must be a lawyer; however, the functions of the office can also be delegated by the Statute Law Committee to a private legal publisher.

The Code Reviser is authorized to make minor style revisions to the laws of Washington as they are enacted by the legislature (for example, changing the words "effective date of this act" to an actual calendar date), correct obvious errors in laws enacted by the legislature such as incorrect citations and references, number and publish the Revised Code of Washington, and provide bill drafting adviseadvice to members of the legislature. The Code Reviser also appoints the editor of the ''Washington State Register'', the state's [[government gazette]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=1.08 |title=Chapter 1.08 RCW STATUTE LAW COMMITTEE (CODE REVISER) |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=app.leg.wa.gov |publisher=Washington State Legislature |accessdateaccess-date=19 September 2014}}</ref>

The Code Reviser employs a professional staff of approximately 40 persons who operate in the [[Joel M. Pritchard Building]] in [[Olympia, Washington]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Myers |first=Laura |date=22 April 2013 |title="Penmanship" is now 'handwriting' as Washington state removes gender bias in statutes |url=httphttps://articleswww.chicagotribune.com/2013-/04-/22/news/snspenmanship-rtis-usnow-usahandwriting-genderas-neutralbre93m00vwashington-20130422_1_genderstate-biasremoves-governorgender-jaybias-insleein-washington-statestatutes/ |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |___location=Chicago, Illinois |accessdate= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/Pages/contact_code_reviser.aspx |title=Contact the Code Reviser's Office |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=leg.wa.gov |publisher=Office of the Code Reviser |accessdateaccess-date=17 September 2014}}</ref> As of 2003 the Code Reviser was paid an annual salary of $104,400; by 2011 this had increased to $120,106.<ref name="st">{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Ralph |date=26 January 2013 |title=State's retire-rehire rules being stretched |url=httphttps://communityarchive.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20030126&slug=/rehire26m0/states-retire-rehire-rules-being-stretched |newspaper=[[Seattle Times]] |___location= |accessdateaccess-date=19 September 2014}}</ref><ref name="spokes">{{cite web |url=http://data.spokesman.com/salaries/state/2012/386-statute-law-committee/|title=Washington State Employee Salary Database: 2011 salaries |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=data.spokesman.com |publisher=Spokesman-Review |accessdateaccess-date=19 September 2014}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Law of Washington (state)]]

==References==

{{reflist}}

{{Washington}}