Laws governing the initiative process in Michigan
From Ballotpedia
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Beginning the process
The Michigan Department of State’s Bureau of Elections offers its staff for consultations on designing the petition format of an initiative measure. Upon determining through the consultation process that an initiative or referendum petition is properly formatted, it is submitted to the Board of State Canvassers for approval as to form. While Michigan election law does not require Board approval of an initiative or referendum petition form, such approval greatly reduces the risk that signatures collected on the form will be ruled invalid due to formatting defects. The Board does not review or approve the actual language of the proposed initiative. When the Secretary of State certifies that enough valid signatures have been collected, the State Director of Elections writes the ballot question and summary. This ballot question and summary is submitted to the Board of Canvassers for review and changes. The Board of Canvassers also holds a public meeting so that proponents, opponents and the general public can comment on the language and ask for changes.
Although, the Board of Canvassers relies on the suggestions of proponents, they need not heed them. If proponents are unsatisfied with the final ballot language and think it’s unfair, they can take the Board of Canvassers to court to get the ballot language changed.
Features of law
Language submission
Initiative language can be submitted to the Michigan Secretary of State at any time.
Signature requirements
- Main article: Michigan signature requirements
Signatures are tied to number of votes cast during the election of the Governor. For statutes, 8% of votes cast for Governor (304,101 signatures.) For amendments, 10% of votes cast for Governor (380,126 signatures.) For statutes, if the petition contains a sufficient number of valid signatures the state legislature has 40 session days to adopt or reject the proposal. If the legislature rejects the law, then the measure is placed on the next general election ballot. For amendments, if the petition contains a sufficient number of valid signatures the measure is placed immediately on the next general election ballot.
Distribution requirement
There is no geographic distribution requirement in Michigan.
Circulation period
Sponsors have 180 days to collect signatures. Michigan law says that proponents must submit signatures that have been gathered within a 180-day period and that the number of valid signatures must be at least equal to the required amount for the initiative to qualify for the ballot. The signatures can be gathered, however, within any 180-day period. Thus, proponents can gather signatures at any start point that they want – but they can only submit signatures gathered within the same 180-day period.
Residency requirements
- Main article: Residency requirements for petition circulators
Circulators are required by statute to be residents. However, in 2009, a federal court declared a similar law for recall circulators in Michigan unconstitutional (Bogaert v. Land).
Signature filing deadline
Signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment must be filed at least 120 days prior to the election. For statutes, signatures must be submitted at least 10 days prior to the start of the state legislative session.
For 2010 ballot measures, the deadlines are:
- Amendment: July 5, 2010.
- Statute: May 26, 2010.
Verification process
Signatures are verified using a random sampling process.
Single-subject rule
- Main article: Single-subject rule
Although Michigan does not have a single-subject restriction, a proposed 2008 ballot initiative was removed from the ballot by a court prior to the election partly on the grounds that the initiative covered too many subjects at once.
Legislative tampering
- Main article: Legislative tampering
The Michigan State Legislature can repeal and amend ballot initiatives by a 75% supermajority vote of each house or as otherwise provided by the initiative.
Proposed changes
The following proposals were made during the 2009-2010 session of the Michigan Legislature. The Legislature is currently in session:
-
HB 4364-Would require the name of a petition circulator to be printed on the official petition.
- HB 4560-Would make revisions to Michigan's recall law.
- SB 1357-Would require campaigns for or against constitutional conventions to follow campaign disclosure laws.
- SB 1358-Would set a campaign disclosure reporting schedule for constitutional convention campaigns.
- SB 7-Would increase penalties on petition circulators who fraudulently obtain signatures.
- SB 9-Would make revision's to Michigan's recall law.
- SB 144-Would switch the campaign finance reporting deadlines for Ballot Measure Committees.
- SB 394-Would increase restrictions to Michigan's recall law only allowing the law to be used for cases of malfeasance and serious corruption.
- SB 413-Would increase criteria in order to accept signatures on petitions. The bill was approved by the Michigan State Senate on January 27, 2010 on a 31-6 vote. The bill awaits a vote in the Michigan House of Representatives[1].
- SB 951/952-Would change the format of official initiative petitions including having the full ballot question on the petition and changing the size type and how many lines would be on a petition.
- SB 953-Would require the Michigan Secretary of State to post on its official website the subject matter in relation to potential ballot measures. The bill was approved by the Michigan State Senate on January 27, 2010 on a 29-8 vote. The bill awaits a vote in the Michigan House of Representatives[2].
- SB 954-Would require warning disclaimers on official initiative petitions in Michigan. The bill was approved by the Michigan State Senate on January 27, 2010 on a 30-7 vote. The bill awaits a vote in the Michigan House of Representatives[3].
- SJR C-Would add a distribution requirement that initiative petitions must have the signature of one elector in each of the state's counties along with 42 counties having 100 or more electors signing petitions within the respective county.
Campaign finance
Some of the notable features of Michigan's campaign finance laws are:
- Bans all campaign contributions from people that have a ownership stake in a casino/gambling establishment.
- Requires individuals who raise or spend $500 to support or defeat a referendum to register with the Michigan Secretary of State.
- Requires all campaigns to use checks for all expenditures over $50.
- Allows contributions from corporations and labor unions to support or oppose a referendum.
External links
- Michigan Initiative Guidelines
- Michigan Constitution and Statutory Provisions
- Michigan Recall Law and Practice
References
The original version of this article was taken with permission from the I&R Institute
