In 2015 An Act To Limit the Information Required To Be Printed on Municipal Referenda Ballotswas sponsored by Representative Picchiotti of Fairfield, Cosponsored by Senator Whittemore of Somerset and Representative Beth O'Connor of Berwick (former manager of Maine Taxpayers United) . It was referred to The Joint Standing Committee on
State and Local Government where it was rejected by the majority .
MAJ,
Ought Not To Pass Representative Martin of Sinclair, Chair
Senator Libby of Androscoggin
Senator Willette of Aroostook
Representative Babbidge of Kennebunk
Representative Bryant of Windham
Representative Doore of Augusta
Representative Evangelos of Friendship
Representative Greenwood of Wales
Representative Tuell of East Machias
Representative Turner of Burlington
MIN,
Ought To Pass Representative Pickett of Dixfield
The Maine Constitution Article
IX General Provisions Section 14
constitutionally
requires
the
following
information to accompany the bond question
-
the total amount of bonds of the State outstanding and unpaid,
- the total amount of bonds of the State authorized and unissued,
-
the total amount of bonds of the State contemplated to be issued if the enactment submitted to the electors be ratified
Remember
that these state wide referendums wherein the public votes on the
issuance of bonds were the first thing that GovernorLongely and the founding fathers ofthe Corporation of Maine wanted to eliminate”
The
Report- Governor's
Task Force For Economic Redevelopment, Recommended Legislation For An
Economic Development Program -110th Congress, calls
for the elimination of local referendums on municipal bond issues
2,
eliminate the requirement for a local referendum on municipal bond
issues.-
Governors
Task Force for Economic Redevelopment-1976
Below is a description of the information which the constitution requires to be made available with state wide referendums- as found in the current statutes:
§353. Explanation of proposed amendments and statewide referenda
With
the assistance of the Secretary of State, the Attorney General shall
prepare a brief explanatory statement that must fairly describe the
intent and content and what a "yes" vote favors and a "no"
vote opposes for each direct initiative, bond issue, constitutional
resolution or statewide referendum that may be presented to the
people. The Office of Fiscal and Program Review shall prepare an
estimate of the fiscal impact on state revenues, appropriations and
allocations of each measure that may appear on the ballot, within the
following time frames: for a direct initiative, within 15 business
days after the applicant has given consent to the Secretary of State
for the final language of the proposed law; and for a statewide
referendum, bond issue or constitutional resolution, within 30 days
after adjournment of the legislative session in which the measure was
passed. The fiscal impact estimate must summarize the aggregate
impact that the constitutional resolution, statewide referendum,
direct initiative or bond issue will have on the General Fund, the
Highway Fund, Other Special Revenue Funds and the amounts distributed
by the State to local units of government. [2011, c. 342, §1 (AMD).]
SECTION
HISTORY
1973,
c. 625, §3 (AMD). 1979, c. 534, §1 (AMD). 1979, c. 541, §A2 (AMD).
1979, c.663,
§1 (AMD). 1991, c. 837, §A1 (AMD). 2005, c. 316, §1 (AMD). 2007,
c. 695, Pt. A, §2 (AMD). 2009, c. 341, §1 (AMD). 2009, c. 462, Pt.
D, §1 (AMD). 2009, c. 538, §1 (AMD). 2011, c. 342, §1 (AMD).
Parts
of the
Maine
Constitution,
Article
IX General Provisions Section 14 Authority and procedure for issuance
of bonds, which
directs where and how this information is
to be made available to the voting public is being incrementally and
statutorily overwritten by the contemporary Maine State legislature:
The information is still available to the public but not in an open
and accessible way. It has been removed from both the ballot and the
ballot booth and placed somewhere outside the guardrail- which is to
say outside the voting area and
with
out any instructions to post a notice for
the public benefit
about where that information can be found:
In 2013 §152. Ratification of bond issue; was amended to make constitutional compliance optional. The words “the statement may be printed on the ballot or it may be printed as a separate document that is made available to voters as provided in Title 21-A, sections 605-A and 651” are added to the end of the paragraph. Title 21-A, sections 651..2.Election materials distributed and posted instructs that the fiscal information will be posted “Outside the guardrail enclosure at each voting place”
§152. Ratification of bond issue…...To meet the requirement that the signed statement of the Treasurer of State accompany any ballot question for ratification of a bond issue, the statement may be printed on the ballot or it may be printed as a separate document that is made available to voters as provided in Title 21-A, sections 605-A and 651. [2013, c. 131, §1 (AMD).]
Title
21-A, sections 651..
2. Election
materials distributed and posted.
A. In
each voting booth: one voting instruction poster prepared under
section 605-A; and [2011, c. 342, §22 (NEW).]
B. Outside
the guardrail enclosure at each voting place:
(6)
One Treasurer's Statement prepared under Title 5, section 152;
(8)
One copy of the Office of Fiscal and Program Review's estimate of the
fiscal impact prepared under Title 1, section 353. [2011, c.
342, §22(NEW).]
The
statute
does
not include instructions to post notification about where the fiscal
information
is located. There was no notice about
where to find the fiscal information where
I voted. I called the town
the next day and was told that the
short paragraph of fiscal information
was located
somewhere
in the office.
The 2015 revision to the Maine Constitution eliminates any ambiguity as to the meaning and intention of the Maine legislature's statutory amendment of the Maine Constitution: The Title of the bill specifically identifies what the legislature is enacting:
The process by which the Constitution is overwritten by statutes is the method used in Italy in the era of Mussolini to transform the nature of government without going through a constitutional process::
[Reprinted by permission of the Foreign Policy Association, from Information Service, Vol. II, No. 7, June 7, 1926.]
The
march on Rome in October, 1922, established Mussolini and the Fascist
party in power. The series of measures recently proposed under
Fascist auspices marks a new crisis in Italian politics and a further
development of Fascist authority. Up to the end of 1925 the Statuto
Fundamentale del Regno granted by the King of Sardinia to his
subjects in 1848 was still in essence the basis of the constitution
of Italy. Changes, however, had been made?-not by constitutional
amendments but by ordinary process of legislation. By this process
various modifications had been effected from time to time, but the
recent laws, while less dramatic than the coup d’état of
October, 1922, constitute a whole program of legislation, and mean
not only an extension of Fascist principles but an abrogation of the
constitution and radical changes in the whole structure of the
Italian state. Of these changes the most fundamental is the control
of the entire productive life of the nation by the government,
through the new Ministry of Corporations and an elaborate machinery
of subsidiary organizations. According to its supporters this new
system, with its substitution of a relationship of cooperation
between labor and capital for one of antagonism, constitutes the
achievement of a constructive and peaceful revolution in Italy and
also furnishes a significant contribution to political theory and
practice in world history.
http://www.fascism-archive.org/books/RecentLegislation.html
 |
| http://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_127th/billtexts/HP015601.asp |
Be
it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
C.
Any question or questions required by law to be submitted to a vote
shall must be printed either below the list of candidates or on a
separate ballot from the ballot listing candidates. The full text of
the proposal and any financial information may be printed on the
ballot. If a separate ballot is used, this ballot must be a different
color than the ballot listing candidates.
SUMMARY
This
bill amends the laws governing municipal referenda elections to
specify that only the question to the voters is required to be
printed on the ballot and that the printing of the full text of the
proposal and any financial information is optional.
Comments
Post a Comment