Seattle, Washington: Mayor Katie Wilson Vetoes RV Permit Program in Her First Veto

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson vetoed a city permit program for people living in RVs on Monday, Nov. 2, using her veto for the first time and setting up an override fight with the City Council. The bill, Council Bill 121283, was sponsored by Councilmember Dan Strauss as the center of his Vehicle Resident Assistance Program. The council passed it 6 to 3 on Oct. 20.

What the bill would have done

The program would have started with a one-time count of the people already living in RVs and other large vehicles in Seattle. Owners with current registration could get a permit to park in assigned industrial areas while they worked with outreach services. RVs without a permit would have been limited to two hours on public streets. A permit holder who turned down appropriate shelter six times would have lost the permit. The rules were set to start next spring.

Wilson signed four other RV related bills in the same package and vetoed only the permit bill. In her veto letter, she pointed to the cost of the census, legal risk, towing occupied vehicles, storage and the burden on the Seattle Police Department. "As mayor, it is my responsibility to ensure that City policies and programs are implementable, a cost-effective use of public resources, and have a reasonable likelihood of achieving their stated goals," she wrote. KING 5 reported that Wilson was set to announce a new executive order on people living in RVs on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The sponsor answers

Strauss said the mayor had promised not to veto the bill. "Before we passed this legislation, Mayor Katie Wilson promised me not to veto it and to work together to implement. Now, thirteen days after we passed it, the mayor gave me a call at 4 p.m. to let me know she was breaking that promise," he said in a statement released after the veto.

"The status quo is not working. It's not working for people living in RVs and it's not working for their neighbors. The city has few resources and no strategy for helping people living in their RVs get into safer shelter and housing," Strauss said. He called the veto a failure of leadership from the executive.

Strauss said he had worked on the legislation since January, meeting with frontline service providers, city departments and the mayor's office. In an Oct. 15 email, five days before the council passed the bill, Wilson told him her office would work with him through the program review work group to put the program in place. Her office also raised three points for discussion, on a new safe parking lot, funding for services and notice before towing, and Strauss said all three were addressed in his budget proposal and in the departments' plans.

What happens next

Under the City Charter, the council must decide whether to override the veto no sooner than five days and no later than 30 days after it was issued. An override takes six votes. The bill passed with exactly six, so the same six councilmembers who passed it can restore it over the mayor's objection if none of them changes sides.