Sponsored by Sen. Carol Williams
By Request of the Department of Justice and Secretary of State
-
Gives the Montana Supreme Court original jurisdiction
to review ballot statements prepared by the Attorney General
and to determine the legal sufficiency of ballot issues.
-
Requires signature gatherers for ballot issues to be
Montana residents.
-
Prohibits signature gatherers for ballot issues from
being paid by the signature.
-
Prohibits preamble and argumentative language from ballot
issue language.
-
Removes "assisted" in gathering from affidavit
language that is signed by signature gatherers.
-
Lengthens the time given to the Budget Director to prepare
fiscal notes from 6 to 10 days for ballot issues that
affect revenue, expenditures or fiscal liability of the
state.
-
Requires the Attorney General to determine if a ballot
issue will conflict with other ballot issues and notice
the Secretary of State if a conflict exists. section 14
Requires each county to notice conflicting ballot issues
on ballots.
-
Clarifies that signatures gathered on sample petitions
that are later revised by the Attorney General or the
courts are void and cannot be counted toward the final
signature count.
-
Requires that the Supreme Court make a final determination
on legal sufficiency before a ballot issue is certified
by the Secretary of State for printing on the ballot.
-
Requires that every county's ballot contain identical
language for each ballot issue.
