S 68 Session 112 (1997-1998)
S 0068 Joint Resolution, By Wilson
Similar(S 59, H 3138, H 3189)
A JOINT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE XV OF THE CONSTITUTION OF
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1895, RELATING TO IMPEACHMENT OF CERTAIN EXECUTIVE AND
JUDICIAL OFFICERS OF THIS STATE, BY ADDING SECTION 4 SO AS TO PROVIDE
PROCEDURES FOR RECALLING AND REMOVING FROM PUBLIC OFFICE PERSONS HOLDING
PUBLIC OFFICES OF THE STATE OR ITS POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS IN THE EXECUTIVE AND
LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES OF STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.
01/14/97 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-107
01/14/97 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-107
A JOINT RESOLUTION
PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE XV OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1895, RELATING TO
IMPEACHMENT OF CERTAIN EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIAL
OFFICERS OF THIS STATE, BY ADDING SECTION 4 SO AS TO
PROVIDE PROCEDURES FOR RECALLING AND REMOVING
FROM PUBLIC OFFICE PERSONS HOLDING PUBLIC OFFICES
OF THE STATE OR ITS POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS IN THE
EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES OF STATE OR
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
SECTION 1. It is proposed that Article XV of the Constitution of
this State be amended by adding at the end:
"Section 4. Persons holding public office in the executive or
legislative branch of state or local governments may be recalled by
the people as follows:
(1) As used in this section:
(a) 'Public office' means a position of duty, trust, or authority
in the executive or legislative branch of government created by the
Constitution, the General Assembly, or a political subdivision
through authority conferred by the Constitution or the General
Assembly that is filled by a vote of qualified electors for a definite
term of office fixed by law.
(b) 'Political subdivision' means a local government unit,
including, but not limited to, a county, municipal corporation, school
district, or special purpose district.
(c) 'State-district' means a house of representatives or senatorial
district, or a judicial circuit.
(2)(a) Every person holding a public office of the State or any of
its political subdivisions in the executive or legislative branch of state
or local government, filled by a vote of qualified electors is subject
to recall from the office.
(b) A public officer holding an elective office may be recalled
by the qualified electors entitled to vote for his successor.
(c) Physical or mental lack of fitness, incompetence, violation
of his oath of office, official misconduct, or conviction of a felony
offense enumerated in the current statutory laws of this State is the
only basis for recall. No person may be recalled for performing a
mandatory duty of the office he holds or for not performing an act
that, if performed, would subject him to prosecution for official
misconduct.
(3) The recall is cumulative and additional to, rather than a
substitute for, other methods for removal of public officers.
(4)(a) Every person who is a qualified elector of this State may
sign a petition for recall of a state officer.
(b) Every person who is a qualified elector of a district of the
State from which a state-district officer is elected may sign a petition
for recall of a state-district officer of that district.
(c) Every person who is a qualified elector of a political
subdivision of this State may sign a petition for recall of an officer of
that political subdivision. However, if a political subdivision is
divided into election districts, a person must be a qualified elector in
the election district to be eligible to sign a petition to recall an officer
elected from that election district and the signature requirements of
item (6) apply only to persons registered in the appropriate election
district.
(5)(a) A recall petition may not name more than one officer to be
recalled.
(b) No recall petition against an officer may be approved for
circulation, as required in paragraph (9)(c) of this section, until the
officer has held office for three months.
(c) No recall petition may be filed against an officer for whom
a recall election has been held for a period of two years during his
term of office unless the State or political subdivision financing the
recall election is first reimbursed for all expenses of the preceding
recall election.
(6) Recall petitions for state officers must contain the signatures
of qualified electors equaling at least fifteen percent of the number of
persons registered to vote at the preceding state general election. A
petition for the recall of a state-district officer must contain the
signatures of qualified electors equaling at least twenty-five percent
of the number of persons registered to vote in the last preceding
election in that district. Recall petitions for county officers must
contain the signatures of qualified electors equaling at least
twenty-five percent of the number of persons registered to vote at the
preceding county general election. Recall petitions for elected
officers of municipalities, special purpose districts, or school districts
must contain the signatures of qualified electors equaling at least
twenty-five percent of the number of persons registered to vote at the
preceding election for offices of the municipality, special purpose
district, or school district.
(7)(a) Recall petitions must be filed with the official who is
provided by law to accept the declaration of nomination or petition
for nomination for the office.
(b) If the appropriate filing official refuses to accept and file a
petition for recall with the proper number of signatures of qualified
electors, an elector may within ten days after the refusal apply to the
circuit court for a writ of mandamus. If it is determined that the
petition is sufficient, the circuit court shall order the petition to be
filed with a certified copy of the writ attached as of the date when it
was originally offered for filing. On a showing that a filed petition
is not sufficient, the court may enjoin certification, printing, or recall
election.
(c) All suits or appeals therefrom must be advanced on the court
docket and heard and decided by the court as expeditiously as
possible.
(d) An aggrieved party may file an appeal within ten days after
an adverse order or decision as provided by law.
(8)(a) The form of the recall petition is substantially as follows:
'RECALL PETITION
To the Honorable _____________, (name and office of filing
officer): We, the undersigned qualified electors of the State of South
Carolina (or name of appropriate state-district or political subdivision
and appropriate election district) respectfully petition that an election
be held as provided by law on the question of whether
, holding the office of , should be
recalled for the following reasons: (Setting out a general statement
of the reasons for recall in not more than two hundred words). By his
signature each signer certifies: I have personally signed this petition;
I am a qualified elector of the State of South Carolina and (name of
appropriate political subdivision and appropriate election district);
and my residence and post-office address are correctly written after
my name to the best of my knowledge and belief.'
(b) Numbered lines must follow the above heading. Each
numbered line must contain spaces for the signature, post-office
address, and printed last name of the signer. Each separate sheet of
the petition must contain the heading and reasons for the proposed
recall as prescribed above.
(9)(a) The signatures on each petition must be placed on sheets of
paper known as circulation sheets. Each circulation sheet must be
substantially 8 " x 14 inches or a continuous sheet may be folded so
as to meet this size limitation. The circulation sheets must be ruled
with a horizontal line 1 " inches from the top. The space above the
line must remain blank and must be for the purpose of binding.
(b) The petition, for purposes of circulation, may be divided
into sections, each section to contain not more than twenty-five
circulation sheets.
(c) Before a petition may be circulated for signatures, a sample
circulation sheet must be submitted to the officer with whom the
petition must be filed in the form in which it must be circulated. The
filing officer shall review the petition for sufficiency as to form and
approve or reject the form of the petition, stating his reasons, within
one week of receiving the sheet.
(d) The petition form submitted must be accompanied by a
written statement containing the reasons for the desired recall as
stated on the petition. The truth of purported facts contained in the
statement must be sworn to by at least one of the petitioners before
a person authorized to administer oaths.
(e) The filing officer serially shall number all approved
petitions continuously from year to year.
(10)(a) Signed circulation sheets or sections of a petition for
recall must be submitted to the officer responsible for registration of
electors in the county in which the signatures were obtained within
three months of the date the form of the petition was approved under
item (9).
(b) An affidavit, in substantially the following form, must be
attached to each circulation sheet or section submitted to the county
officer:
'________________________ (Name of person circulating
petition), being first sworn, deposes and says: I circulated or assisted
in circulating the petition to which this affidavit is attached, and I
believe the signatures thereon are genuine, are the signatures of the
persons whose names they purport to be, and that the signers knew
the contents of the petition before signing it.
_________________________ (Signature)
Subscribed and sworn before me this ____ day of__________, 19___
________________ (Person authorized to take oaths)
___________ (Title or notarial information) Seal'.
(11)(a) The county election commission in each county in which
a petition is signed shall verify and compare the signatures of each
person who has signed the petition to assure that he is an elector in
that county and, if satisfied the signatures are genuine, certify that
fact to the officer with whom the recall petition is to be filed, in
substantially the following form:
'To the Honorable _______________, (name and title of filing
officer):
I, _______, _____ (title) of __________ County certify that I have
compared the signatures on _____ sheets (specifying number of
sheets) of the petition for Recall No. _____ attached, in the manner
prescribed by law, and I believe ____ (number) signatures are valid
for the purpose of the petition. I further certify that the affidavit of
the circulator of the (sheet) (section) of the petition is attached and
that the post-office address is completed for each valid signature.
Signed ___________ (Date) _________ (Signature)
Seal ___________________ (Title)'.
(b) The certificate is prima facie evidence of the facts stated in
it, and the officer receiving the recall petition may consider and count
only the signatures as are certified. However, the officer with whom
the recall petition is filed shall consider and count any remaining
signatures of the registered voters which prove to be genuine, and
those signatures must be considered and counted if they are attested
to in the manner and form as provided contested ballots in general
elections.
(c) The county election commission may not retain any portion
of a petition for more than thirty days following the receipt of that
portion. At the expiration of the thirty-day period, the commission
clerk shall certify the valid signatures on that portion of the petition
and deliver it to the person with whom the petition is required to be
filed.
(12) Upon filing the petition or a portion of the petition containing
the number of valid signatures required under item (5), the official
with whom it is filed immediately shall give written notice to the
officer named in the petition. The notice must state that a recall
petition has been filed, must set forth the reasons contained in it, and
must notify the officer named in the recall petition that he has the
right to prepare and have printed on the ballot a statement containing
not more than two hundred words giving reasons why he should not
be recalled. No statement of justification may be printed on the ballot
unless it is delivered to the filing official within ten days of the date
notice is given.
(13)(a) If the officer named in the petition for recall submits his
resignation in writing, it must be accepted and becomes effective the
day it is offered. The vacancy created by the resignation must be
filled as provided by law, provided that the officer named in the
petition for recall may not be appointed to fill the vacancy. If the
officer named in the petition for recall refuses to resign or does not
resign within five days after the petition is filed, a special election
must be called unless the filing is within ninety days of a general
election, in which case the question must be placed on a separate
ballot at the same time as the general election.
(b) The call of a special election must be made by the Governor
in the case of a state or state-district officer or by the board or officer
empowered by law, to call special elections for a political subdivision
in the case of an officer of a political subdivision of the State.
(14) The notice of a recall election must be in substantially the
following form:
'NOTICE OF RECALL ELECTION
Notice is hereby given pursuant to law that a recall election will be
held on ________ (Date) for the purpose of voting upon the recall of
who holds the office of
___________________________________________________
dated at , (Date)'.
(15) A special election for recall must be conducted and the results
canvassed and certified in the same manner that the law in effect at
the time of the election for recall requires for an election to fill the
office that is the subject of the recall petition, except as otherwise
provided in this section. The powers and duties conferred or imposed
by law upon election commissioners, registration officers, canvassing
boards, and other public officials who conduct general elections are
conferred and imposed upon similar officers conducting recall
elections under the provisions of this section together with the
penalties prescribed for breach.
(16)(a) The ballot at a recall election shall set forth the statement
contained in the recall petition stating the reasons for demanding the
recall of the officer and the officer's statement of reasons why he
should not be recalled. The question of whether the officer should be
recalled must be placed on the ballot in a form similar to the
following:
[] FOR recalling _________ who holds
the office of ____________
[] AGAINST recalling _____ who holds
the office of ____________
(b) The form of the ballot must be approved as provided in the
election laws of this State.
(17) Expenses of a recall election must be paid in the same manner
as the expenses for any other election. The expenditure of the funds
constitutes an emergency expenditure of funds, and the political
subdivision affected may fund the costs of a recall election through
emergency funding procedures. If a recall election is held for a state
or state-district officer, the General Assembly shall appropriate funds
to reimburse the counties involved for costs incurred in conducting
the election.
(18) The officer named in the recall petition continues in office
until he resigns or the results of the recall election are officially
declared. If a majority of those voting on the question vote to remove
the officer, the office becomes vacant and the vacancy must be filled
as provided by law, provided that the officer recalled may not be
appointed to fill the vacancy."
SECTION 2. The proposed amendment must be submitted to the
qualified electors at the next general election for representatives.
Ballots must be provided at the various voting precincts with the
following words printed or written thereon: "Shall Article XV of the
Constitution of this State be amended to add Section 4 so as to
provide that a person holding a public office of the State or any of its
political subdivisions who is elected by a vote of the qualified
electors for a definite term fixed by law must be recalled and
removed from office if at least fifteen percent of the qualified electors
of this State, in the case of a state-elected officer, or at least
twenty-five percent of the qualified electors of a state-district office
in the case of a state-district officer, or twenty-five percent of the
qualified electors of a county, municipal corporation, school district,
or special purpose district or twenty-five percent of an election
district thereof in the case of single member districts in the case of an
officer of any of those entities, by petition request a special election
to determine whether or not the qualified electors of the State or
political subdivision desire to recall and remove the official and if a
majority of those persons voting in the special election vote in favor
of recalling and removing the official?
Yes []
No []
Those voting in favor of the question shall deposit a ballot with a
check or cross mark in the square after the word 'Yes' and those
voting against the question shall deposit a ballot with a check or cross
mark in the square after the word 'No'."
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