Foes of the “everything-but-marriage” bill will have to wait until Governor Gregoire acts on the measure, Senate Bill 5688, next week to resume work on their ballot challenge.

The Attorney General’s Office notified the Secretary of State’s Office today that they won’t issue the ballot title and summary “unless and until” the governor approves the bill “exactly as it passed the Legislature.”  Gregoire is expected to sign the bill in Seattle next Monday. 

Referendum 71 was accepted by the state Elections Division last week and was forwarded to the Attorney General for the next step of the process, the preparation of a ballot title and summary to go on the referendum petitions. But Deputy Solicitor James Pharris, the division’s lawyer, says that rather than releasing it today, as previously expected, it won’t go public until probably the day after the Governor takes action.  After release of that material, both friends and foes of the referendum will have a week to go to court to contest the AG’s wording. Only after all of that is concluded may the sponsors print petitions and start gathering signatures.