Maine Legislative Document 176 (2015)
| Maine Legislative Document 176 | |
 | |
| Legislature: | Maine State Legislature |
| Text: | LD176 |
| Sponsor(s): | Rep. Stanley Short (I-106) |
| Legislative history | |
| Introduced: | January 29, 2015 |
| State house: | May 7, 2015 |
| State senate: | May 12, 2015 |
| Governor: | Gov. Paul LePage (R) |
| Legal environment | |
| State law: | Initiative and recall |
| Code: | Maine Revised Statutes |
| Section: | Section 1. 21-A §§903 |
Maine Legislative Document 176, which imposed residency and paid circulator restrictions, was introduced by Rep. Stanley Short (I-106) on January 29, 2015. It was approved in the Maine House of Representatives on May 7, 2015. In the Maine State Senate, the bill was approved on May 12, 2015.[1]
Proponents proposed this bill to prevent a system previously used in some signature gathering campaigns, including the signature campaign for Question 1, the bear hunting measure decided in 2014. This system involved an out-of-state signature gatherer paired up with an in-state witness to comply with the Maine's prior residency requirement. The campaign behind the Maine bear hunting initiative paid PCI Consulting, a signature gathering firm from California, to help circulate its petition. PCI Consulting used the system of an in-state witness to qualify the bear hunting initiative for the ballot. Supporters of LD 176 said that this system allowed abuse since there was no way to verify that all signatures were witnessed by a Maine resident.[2]
Provisions
LD 176 prohibited any person who is not a resident of Maine from collecting signatures for an initiative, veto referendum or recall petition and from handling the petitions in any way. The law permits non-residents to spread information about petitions. LD 176 also requires any paid workers for initiative, referendum or recall petition campaigns to register with the state's Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, disclosing employment history, the location of his or her residence, compensation, stats on signatures gathered and the number of petitions he or she is circulating. Moreover, paid signature gatherers are required to display a badge disclosing their status as a paid circulators while gathering signatures. Finally, LD 176 requires any committee or organization behind a petition to post a bond with the state in the amount of $2,000 for every circulator that receives more than $2,500 in payment.[3]
Legislative summary
The following summary of LD 176 was provided by the legislature:[3]
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This bill prohibits persons who are not residents of the State from collecting signatures on a petition for the direct initiative of legislation or a people's veto referendum and from handling such a petition in any manner. The bill permits persons who are not residents to provide others with information about a petition. The bill requires a person employed by a petition organization to register with the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices and to disclose to the commission information regarding the person's place of residence, employment history, compensation, number of signatures gathered in a month and petitions circulated and to wear an identification badge when collecting signatures. The bill requires a petition organization to post a $2,000 bond on a circulator receiving over $2,500 in compensation. The bill makes a violation of any of these provisions a Class E crime.[4] |
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Supporters and sponsors
Supporters of this bill, including its sponsor Rep. Stanley Short (I-106) and his nine colleagues who co-sponsored the bill, presented LD 176 as a measure to close what they called a loophole in Maine election laws, providing transparency and a way to enforce the state's residency requirement. Previously, signatures could be gathered by an out-of-state signature gatherer as long as an in-state witness was present. Proponents of LD 176 argued, however, that there was no way for the state to enforce this rule without registration requirements.[2]
Opposition
Angelo Paparella, the president of PCI Consulting condemned LD 176 as “a cowardly way to attack the initiative process." Paparella insisted that the people signing the petitions were more important than the people holding the clipboards. He concluded, “The more bureaucratic roadblocks they throw up, the more expensive the process gets and the more it gets limited to special interests.”[2]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Open States, "Maine Legislative Document 176 (2015)," accessed December 15, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 centralmaine.com, "Bill closes loophole in signature gathering process," March 10, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Maine Legislature, "Legislative Document 176," accessed December 15, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
