Page 138 - PGM Compendium

Our Most Worshipful Brother’s service was not limited to Freemasonry. He was a public servant as well,
being first elected to a county farm committee in 1954. He would then be elected to the 9th District's
House seat in 1956, and wasted little time becoming active in the legislature, serving on a number of
committees: Banks and Banking, Constitution and Elections, Education, and the Highway Committee, of
which he was elected chairman in 1963. The first bill he introduced in the House allowed third-class cities
within fourth-class counties to establish cemetery districts, which included Colfax, the county seat for
Whitman County.

One bill Huntley co-sponsored that was progressive for its day was the state's first seat-belt law. In 1962
he visited a fellow legislator in the hospital who had been in a high-speed car wreck. Seat belts weren't
mandatory in 1962 (and wouldn't be for decades); at the time some cars didn't even have seat belts.
Huntley's colleague had been wearing his, and told Huntley it was the only reason he survived the crash.
This prompted the two men to introduce a bill in the 1963 legislative session requiring that all new cars
sold in the state after January 1, 1965, be equipped with a seat belt. It passed, but not without some dissent.

He was not as successful with another bill that he felt strongly about, which was the "implied consent"
legislation. This legislation in essence would have required a suspected drunk or impaired driver to take a
field sobriety test when stopped by the police, with severe consequences if the driver refused.
Although Huntley sponsored or co-sponsored such a bill several times while he was in the House, it never
made it to the floor for a vote. He did, however, see it become law some years later, after he had left the
legislature.

The legislature was reapportioned shortly after Huntley's fifth term began in 1965. As a result he suddenly
found that he would be forced to face off in the 1966 election against another representative from his
district, Robert Goldsworthy, for a single position. Huntley didn't want to run against Goldsworthy, and a
few weeks later an opportunity presented itself for him to bow out when Governor Dan Evans appointed
him to the Highway Commission (now the Washington State Transportation Commission). Huntley
resigned his house seat on March 26, 1965, to take his new position.
He was on the Highway Commission for a little more than two years, becoming chairman in 1966. Much
of his work during the time dealt with issues surrounding the construction of Interstate 5 through Western
Washington, as well as Interstate 405. This included approving the routes that the highways eventually
took, and attending numerous right-of-way hearings to discuss the construction's impact with affected
landowners.

In April 1967 State Senator Marshall Neill was appointed to the State Supreme Court by Governor Evans,
creating a vacant seat in the Senate. Neill was from Pullman and knew Huntley, and asked him if he was
interested in being appointed to the seat. Huntley initially hesitated, but soon agreed and was sworn in to
the Senate on April 24, 1967. He would be subsequently elected to the Senate in the 1968 election, winning
handily with more than 71 percent of the vote. As Senator, Huntley served on the Agriculture Committee,
the Ways and Means Committee, and several other committees, but he is best remembered for his work
on the Senate's Highway Committee.

Huntley's political career was once again sidetracked when the legislature was again reapportioned in
1972, and he lost his bid for re-election to the Senate that November. However, a few weeks after his term

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