Gov. Gary Locke of Washington plans to ask state lawmakers to negate a ban on race-conscious public-college admissions policies adopted by that state's voters in 1998.

On Monday, Governor Locke, a Democrat, announced that one of his top legislative priorities this year would be a bill to let public colleges return to having race-conscious admissions policies, provided they meet criteria specified by the U.S. Supreme Court in two key decisions handed down last summer.

The bill would amend -- and effectively gut -- one of the key provisions of Initiative 200, a 1998 ballot measure that says state agencies cannot discriminate or grant preferential treatment "based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in public employment, education, and contracting." Under Washington's state Constitution, laws that come into being through such voter initiatives can be amended through a majority vote in each chamber of the Legislature, two or more years after they have passed.

Citing the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings last June in two cases involving the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Governor Locke said, "I believe that taking into account the composition of ethnicity should be allowed. So I support modifying Initiative 200 to allow the consideration of race without set-asides or quotas."

The intent of his proposal is "bringing our admissions processes in line with the U.S. Supreme Court decisions," Kirsten Kendrick, a spokeswoman for Governor Locke, said Tuesday. In keeping with the legal guidance offered by the Supreme Court, the measure would let public colleges consider applicants' race and ethnicity, but would require the institutions to look at each applicant "holistically," and would prohibit them from using racial quotas or a point system that automatically gave minority applicants an edge. The colleges also would be required to consider race-neutral alternatives to affirmative action in admissions.

Governor Locke's proposal was harshly criticized on Tuesday by the American Civil Rights Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy organization that helped organize the campaign for the ballot measure. "The voters in Washington spoke loud and clear when they passed Initiative 200 by an overwhelming majority," said Diane Schachterle, a spokeswoman for the organization. "If the governor wants to change that," she said, "he should go back to the voters, and we'll meet him there."

The measure's primary sponsor in the State Senate will be Sen. Jeanne E. Kohl-Welles, a Democrat who is the ranking member in her chamber's Higher Education Committee. Noting that a solid majority of voters had approved Initiative 200, and that Republicans narrowly control the State Senate, Ms. Kohl-Welles said there is likely to be significant resistance to the bill. "It may not pass this time around," she said, "but we are surely going to give it a good try."

The measure "is desired by the institutions of higher education because it will give them more flexibility," Ms. Kohl-Welles said. In addition, she said, the state has a compelling interest in letting colleges consider race, "to ensure that our students acquire the skills needed to live and work successfully in our increasingly diverse society."

Officials at the University of Washington declined Tuesday to comment on the bill.

In the State House of Representatives, the measure is being sponsored by Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, a Democrat who is the chairman of that chamber's Higher Education Committee. She expressed optimism that the House would pass the measure, partly because it has the support of many Democrats, who hold a majority there.

For his part, Governor Locke has never been a fan of Initiative 200. He had led the campaign against it, and, following its passage, urged colleges to find other ways to maintain diversity on campus.

Minority enrollments at the University of Washington dropped soon after the measure was passed, but have since climbed close to the levels where they were before.