‘ 13. Qualifying period. "Qualifying period" means the time period that begins upon the filing of an application to initiate a citizens' initiative ballot question under section 901 and ends 120 days after the petition has been filed as required by the Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 17 for a people's veto or Article IV, Part Third, Section 18 for a direct initiative of legislation.’
Amend the bill in section 1 in §1132 by striking out all of subsection 13 (page 2, lines 29 to 37 in L.D.) and inserting the following:
Amend the bill in section 1 in §1135 in subsection 2 in paragraph A in the first line (page 5, line 3 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " May" the following: ' , in addition to collecting seed money contributions under subsection 4, collect contributions and make expenditures to collect signatures for the ballot question. The ballot question committee may'
Amend the bill in section 1 in §1135 in subsection 2 in paragraph B in the last line (page 5, line 13 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " question" the following: ' at a time'
Amend the bill in section 1 in §1135 in subsection 8 in the 8th line (page 7, line 8 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: " of intent" the following: ' and may not be used to collect signatures for the ballot question'
Amend the bill by inserting after section 2 the following:
‘Sec. 3. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.
ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF
Revenue Services, Bureau of 0002
Initiative: Provides one-time funding for programming costs to add 2 new voluntary checkoffs to the individual income tax return.
| GENERAL FUND | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|
All Other
|
$22,000 | $0 |
 |
|
|
| GENERAL FUND TOTAL | $22,000 | $0 |
| ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF | ||
| DEPARTMENT TOTALS | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|
GENERAL FUND
|
$22,000 | $0 |
|
|
|
| DEPARTMENT TOTAL - ALL FUNDS | $22,000 | $0 |
ETHICS AND ELECTION PRACTICES, COMMISSION ON GOVERNMENTAL
Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Fund N319
Initiative: Provides an allocation for temporary staffing to process additional qualifying contributions and to assist with compliance monitoring.
| OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|
All Other
|
$23,614 | $24,270 |
|
|
|
| OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS TOTAL | $23,614 | $24,270 |
Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Fund N319
Initiative: Provides an allocation for disbursement of funds to certified committees.
| OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|
All Other
|
$750,000 | $1,500,000 |
|
|
|
| OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS TOTAL | $750,000 | $1,500,000 |
| ETHICS AND ELECTION PRACTICES, COMMISSION ON GOVERNMENTAL | ||
| DEPARTMENT TOTALS | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS
|
$773,614 | $1,524,270 |
|
|
|
| DEPARTMENT TOTAL - ALL FUNDS | $773,614 | $1,524,270 |
| SECTION TOTALS | 2019-20 | 2020-21 |
|
GENERAL FUND
|
$22,000 | $0 |
|
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS
|
$773,614 | $1,524,270 |
|
|
|
| SECTION TOTAL - ALL FUNDS | $795,614 | $1,524,270 |
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is the minority report of the committee, makes technical changes to the Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Act established in the bill. The amendment clarifies that a ballot question committee that wishes to participate in the Act and that supports a direct initiative or people's veto may, in addition to collecting seed money contributions, collect a limited amount of contributions and make a limited amount of expenditures specifically for the purposes of gathering signatures on the ballot question petition. The amendment clarifies that a ballot question committee that wishes to participate in the Act may be involved in collecting signatures for only one ballot question at a time and may not expend any revenues distributed from the Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Fund on signature-gathering activities.
The amendment also provides that the qualifying period, during which ballot question committees may collect qualifying contributions for certification under the Act, commences for all committees on the date that an application to initiate proceedings for a direct initiative or people's veto is filed with the Secretary of State under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 21-A, section 901.
The amendment adds an appropriations and allocations section.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)