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Washington State Constitution

The Washington State Constitution is the founding document of our state. It explains the government's structure and powers, as well as the people's rights.

Adoption date
October 1, 1889

Preface

This Constitution was framed by a convention of seventy-five delegates, chosen by the people of the Territory of Washington at an election held May 14, 1889, under section 3 of the Enabling Act. The convention met at Olympia on the fourth day of July, 1889, and adjourned on the twenty-second day of August, 1889. The Constitution was ratified by the people at an election held on October 1, 1889, and on November 11, 1889, in accordance with section 8 of the Enabling Act, the president of the United States proclaimed the admission of the State of Washington into the Union.

Sections

ARTICLE XXV. JURISDICTION


SECTION 1. AUTHORITY OF THE UNITED STATES

The consent of the State of Washington is hereby given to the exercise, by the congress of the United States, of exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such tracts or parcels of land as are now held or reserved by the government of the United States for the purpose of erecting or maintaining thereon forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, lighthouses and other needful buildings, in accordance with the provisions of the seventeenth paragraph of the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution of the United States, so long as the same shall be so held and reserved by the United States. Provided: That a sufficient description by metes and bounds, and an accurate plat or map of each such tract or parcel of land be filed in the proper office of record in the county in which the same is situated, together with copies of the orders, deeds, patents or other evidences in writing of the title of the United States: and provided, That all civil process issued from the courts of this state and such criminal process as may issue under the authority of this state against any person charged with crime in cases arising outside of such reservations, may be served and executed thereon in the same mode and manner, and by the same officers, as if the consent herein given had not been made.

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