The Green Party is neither right nor left - we are in front.  We are fiscally responsible, socially progressive, and committed to environmental sustainability.   ...and, unlike traditional parties, we think long term.  borrowed from the Canadian GP

Preamble: 
1.  Policies and legislation shall always favor the interests of the majority of existing residents and respect their need to live in stable, secure neighborhoods and to be protected from exploitation and land speculation.
2.  The Green Party of San Juan County welcomes economic development provided that it does not impose additional burdens or costs on existing residents and omits no race, class or gender.
3.  We are opposed to urbanization (a.k.a. “growth”, “development”, “improvement”, etc.) as it invariably leads local governments into fiscal crisis, increases the cost of living, cuts people off from nature and increases dependence on an unstable market economy.
4.  Most of all, GREENS are committed to preserving, protecting and restoring the natural ecology of San Juan County, not for aesthetic reasons or to support the real estate and tourism industries, but simply because life itself, for all classes of people and for every living thing, now and in the future, depends on it.

The Green Party of San Juan County is a LOCAL political party that seeks to serve the interests of ALL San Juan County Citizens.  We do not seek to take power and rule like other parties, but rather to limit and contain the power of local government and officials.

Our goal is to make County government DEMOCRATIC, OPEN, and REPRESENTATIVE.

             By DEMOCRATIC, we mean that citizens have the right to make all government decisions if they choose, provided only that everyone’s rights are protected.

             By OPEN, we mean that government shall always make its true intent  known well in advance of decision making.

             By REPRESENTATIVE, we mean that elected officials shall make all important or controversial decisions in accord with the will of the majority of citizens and that they will use all possible means (polls, referendums, etc.) to discover that will. 

        At the county level, we advocate:

At the state level, we advocate:
.

At the International Level, we advocate:

Notes on the platform:

3.  Overall development is to be determined by the long-term availability of water.  More specifically:
    a. Retain enough water in streams and wetlands to protect water quality and support diverse, healthy, and abundant plant and wildlife
        communities.
    b. Integrate water supply planning with growth management planning and determine the availability of water supplies in approved growth areas.
    c. Establish a county resource management program that addresses all water use, including exempt wells and alternative sources; and,
    d. Where water is involved, require decision-making based on considerations of long-term development and water availability

Place limits on urbanization determined by the long-term availability of water, as required by SJC’s own Comprehensive Plan Water Assessment, Comprehensive Cater Plan and by the WA State growth Management Act and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).
Estimates and evaluations of water availability must conform to the criteria defining a “valid scientific process” as required by WAC 365-195-905(5) and SJC’s own Guidelines for the Preparation of a Geohydrological Report in San Juan County.

All land use changes (zoning designations, conditional use permits, road widening, etc.) to be decided by a vote of the affected residents.

Residential development permits will be issued for residences only for residences of 4000 sq. ft. of living space or less.

Observe the Precautionary Principle. Assess and weigh true costs of risks and benefits of proposed developments prior to approval. Who pays, who benefits, and to what public purpose.

 4.  See Chapter 7.25 RCW Declaratory judgments of local bond issues; and also Chapter 7.24 Uniform Declaratory Judgments act. Require that any intention to fund capital projects absent voter approval will be argued for approval before the Courts and the public interest defended.

5.  a. The doctrine of "corporate personhood" is the claim that corporations are intended to enjoy the legal status and protections created for human 
         beings.
     b. We believe that corporations are not persons and possess only the privileges we willfully grant them. Granting corporations the status of legal
         "persons" effectively rewrites the Constitution to serve corporate interests as though they were human interests.
     c. See http://reclaimdemocracy.org/personhood/  for further information on corporate personhood.
     d. See http://www.celdf.org/scm/ord/ord12.asp  for an example of a local ordinance revoking corporate personhood.

7.  Create new oaths of office and codes of conduct for county elected officials.  Presently the oaths of office are vague and almost meaningless, and there is nothing to prevent officials from actively destroying the social and material basis and nothing that could serve as a reason for a recall campaign.

8.  This is similar to the Canadian "Office of the Public Advocate", a person qualified defend the public interest at the local level and to provide information to the public.

11.  a. Health Department to grant liberal waivers on regulations for home-grown & cooked, food sales and co-ops.
       b. Establish San Juan County as a "no-genetically-modified-crops" zone.

12.  Passing ordinances making certain portions of the patriot act illegal in this county, as has been done in Arcata, California.

13.  Put public funding of the solid waste system to a public vote.

15.  Require raises of elected officials to be placed before the voters if proposed pay increases exceed proportional wage increases granted county employees; and elected officials to take proportional pay cuts if county employees wages are cut. 

17.   We support increased state funding of the Washington State Ferries consistent with the ferry system's current status as an integral part of the State Highways system. WSF grants San Juan County a voice in how we schedule available service capacity and how we meet our mandated revenue share. We support changes in the priorities of our Ferry Advisory Committee:

·         reach out for advice from the broad community of ordinary islanders

·         increase coupon book discounts

·         reduce waiting by priority loading for residents (start with those with medical appointments)

·         reservations, tilted to residents (not "pay more and go to the front of the line")

·         return to interisland schedules and fares that support our interacting community of citizens, families and businesses

·         "peak and valley" fares to spread demand more evenly across the schedule

2.  (Ref. Pandora’s Poison by Joe Thornton)

3.  Initiative 318, "The Voters’ Full Choice Initiative," is currently gathering signatures to achieve this aim.

4. 
    a.  Reduce the 40-hour work week to a standard of 35 hours, after which overtime wages must be paid.  This has been done successfully in several countries in Europe and is being considered in Canada as well.  The 40-hour week, legislated in 1938, is an antiquated standard and does not reflect the well-known time crunch affecting today’s dual-income families, and especially their children.

    b. Eliminate required overtime:  Grant the right for workers to refuse all overtime in excess of standard or negotiated work hours, whichever are shorter.

    c. Expand individual choice of shorter work time: "Right to Shorter Work Hours" legislation would guarantee all employees the right to voluntarily reduce their work time with a proportionate reduction in pay.  Any occasional hours worked (voluntarily) in excess of the agreed-upon number of hours would be paid as overtime.

Work-time reduction could be done through a variety of measures such as: a shorter work week, a shorter work day, job-sharing, sabbaticals, extended vacations, and gradual retirement. Employers could reject the request only if they had strong organizational grounds to do so. This kind of measure is advocated by University of Toronto economist Frank Reid. In the Netherlands, most collective agreements already offer workers the right to reduce their hours.

d. Improve the Conditions for part-time employees: Stronger legislated protections are also needed for those who choose to work less in order to make this an attractive option. Following the example of countries like the Netherlands, we need legislation to ensure that part-time and shorter hours workers receive the same hourly pay as full-time workers, equal promotion possibilities, at least pro-rated benefits, and continued seniority rights.

1.  Withdrawal to be phased with insertion of UN presence, ceding all authority for maintaining order and rebuilding the country to the United Nations while still meeting our responsibility to continue to contribute the bulk of the funding required for this, and, most importantly, leaving no permanent US military bases in the country.

2.  Send a coordinated request from the Green, Democratic, and Republican Parties to the United Nations, Department of Political Affairs, Electoral Assistance Division, for UN election observers to be present during the 2004 general election campaign in the US. This will demonstrate to the rest of the world that the US is a functioning democracy and allow us to regain our place as the world democratic model.

3.  We advocate a national, publicly funded, privately delivered health care coverage system as proposed in Congressional Bill HR676 "Medicare for All"