HP0634, LD 906, item 1, An Act Regarding the Collection of Signatures for a Direct Initiative

An Act Regarding the Collection of Signatures for a Direct Initiative

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §901-A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 611, §1, is further amended to read:

§ 901-A. Petition requirements for direct initiatives of legislation

The following provisions apply to direct initiatives of legislation under the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 18.

1. Full text of direct initiative and fiscal impact statement and opportunity to read full text of direct initiative, direct initiative summary and fiscal impact statement. A person circulating a petition must give a voter that voter's own printed paper copy of the full text of the direct initiative and the fiscal impact statement and provide the voter the opportunity to read the full text of the direct initiative and the proposed direct initiative summary and fiscal impact statement required by section 901 prior to that voter signing the petition. The summary presented to the voter must be as it appears on a publicly accessible website established by the Secretary of State.

2. Required statements; placement of information. On each page of a petition that contains space intended for voter signatures, the Secretary of State shall include a space at the top right or left corner of each such page to be submitted to the voters, which must be filled in with the name of the circulator collecting signatures on that petition and a unique identifying number, and include the fiscal impact of the initiative as described in Title 1, section 353 directly below the following statement at the top of the petition in a type size of no less than 16 points:

"Freedom of Citizen Information: Before a registered voter signs any initiative petition, signature gatherers must offer the voter the opportunity to read the full text of the proposed initiative, proposed initiative summary and fiscal impact statement prepared by the Secretary of State."

summary

This bill requires a person circulating a petition for a direct initiative of legislation to give a voter that voter's own printed paper copy of the full text of the direct initiative and the fiscal impact statement and provide the voter the opportunity to read the full text of the direct initiative prior to that voter signing the petition. Current law also requires a person circulating a petition for a direct initiative of legislation to provide the voter the opportunity to read the proposed direct initiative summary and fiscal impact statement.

HP0634 LD 906	Session - 128th Maine Legislature		LR 684 Item 1
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