Current Status Introducing Body:House Bill Number:4330 Primary Sponsor:Clyborne Type of Legislation:GB Subject:Initiative petition Residing Body:House Computer Document Number:JIC/6099.HC Introduced Date:Feb 04, 1992 Last History Body:House Last History Date:Jun 02, 1992 Last History Type:Objection withdrawn by Representative Scope of Legislation:Statewide All Sponsors:Clyborne Type of Legislation:General Bill
Bill Body Date Action Description CMN
---- ------ ------------ ------------------------------ ---
4330 House Jun 02, 1992 Objection withdrawn by
Representative
4330 House May 19, 1992 Objection by Representative
4330 House May 19, 1992 Objection Withdrawn by
Representative
4330 House May 19, 1992 Objection by Representative
4330 House May 19, 1992 Objection withdrawn by
Representative
4330 House Apr 01, 1992 Objection by Representative
4330 House Mar 25, 1992 Committee Report: Favorable 25
with amendment
4330 House Feb 04, 1992 Introduced, read first time, 25
referred to Committee
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COMMITTEE REPORT
March 25, 1992
H. 4330
S. Printed 3/25/92--H.
Read the first time February 4, 1992.
To whom was referred a Bill (H. 4330), to provide for the enactment of legislation by initiative petition, etc., respectfully
That they have duly and carefully considered the same, and recommend that the same do pass with amendment:
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all after the enacting words and inserting:
/SECTION 1. Title 2 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
Section 2-8-10. This chapter may be cited as the Initiative Petition Act.
Section 2-8-20. As provided under Article XVII of the Constitution of this State, qualified electors, by joining in a petition to be filed in the office of the State Election Commission, may initiate a desired statutory law or constitutional amendment and cause the same to be submitted to the qualified electors of this State at the next general election.
Section 2-8-30. (A) No measure that relates to religion, religious practices, or religious institutions; or to the appointment, qualification, tenure, removal, recall, or compensation of judges, or to the reversal of a judicial decision; or to the powers, creation, or abolition of courts; or the operation of which is restricted to a particular municipality or other political division; or state appropriations may be proposed by an initiative petition. However, if a law approved by the people is not repealed, the General Assembly shall appropriate the money necessary to implement the law.
(B) No measure that relates to more than one subject may be proposed by an initiative petition.
Section 2-8-40. (A) Before circulating a petition proposing a statutory law or a constitutional amendment, an application, developed by the State Election Commission, along with five certified copies must be filed in the office of the State Election Commission. The application must be signed by no fewer than five qualified electors, hereinafter designated as `sponsors'. Each sponsor shall sign the application, provide his complete address, precinct, and voter registration number, and shall acknowledge his signature under oath before an officer competent to administer oaths. No additional sponsors may be added after the original application is filed. The application must include a copy of the petition that sets forth a full and correct copy of the proposed measure.
(B) The State Election Commission shall certify whether or not the measure in an application filed pursuant to subsection (A):
(1) is in proper form as to text and title for submission to the people;
(2) is not, either affirmatively or negatively, substantially the same as any measure which has been qualified for submission or submitted to the people at the preceding statewide general election;
(3) relates to only one subject; and
(4) relates to a subject not excluded pursuant to Section 2-8-30.
(C) If the application meets the requirements of subsection (A) of this section and the commission certifies that the proposed measure meets the requirements of subsection (B) of this section, the commission shall approve the application.
(D) The commission shall provide blanks for the use of subsequent signers and shall print at the top of each blank a fair, concise summary of the proposed measure. The summary of both a statutory law and a constitutional amendment must be prepared by the State Constitutional Ballot Commission. If the measure is placed on the ballot, the summary from the petition must also appear on the ballot.
(E) After an application is approved, the State Election Commission shall, within ten days, furnish a certified copy of the petition to each sponsor. No blank may be circulated for signatures unless it is attached to a certified petition copy.
(F) Upon receipt of certified petition copies, the sponsors shall circulate and obtain all signatures on the initiative petition blanks within six months. A signature obtained more than six months before the filing date is invalid.
Section 2-8-50. (A) A valid signature on the initiative petition must include the name, complete address, precinct, and voter registration number of the signer, and the date of the signature.
(B) No signature on a petition is valid unless it is made in the presence of a sponsor. Each separate sheet of the petition containing signatures must be verified on the back by the sponsor in whose presence the sheets were signed.
Section 2-8-60. (A) Each initiative petition, when signed and verified as provided in this chapter, must be delivered at least one hundred eighty days before any general election to the State Election Commission so that the commission may determine whether the petition conforms to the requirements of this chapter.
(B) The State Election Commission shall check all of the names of the signers against official voter registration lists and certify on the petition whether or not each name is that of a qualified elector. The number of names appearing on each verified petition copy that are certified as qualified electors must be counted. If the number of names properly signed, verified, and certified equals or exceeds ten percent of the qualified electors eligible to vote at the last general election as required by Article XVII of the Constitution of this State, the State Election Commission shall mark the petition as sufficient. If the number of names properly signed, verified, and certified does not equal or exceed the ten percent of the qualified electors eligible to vote at the last general election as required by Article XVII of the Constitution of this State, the State Election Commission shall mark the petition as insufficient. The State Election Commission shall notify any one of the petition's sponsors of its finding.
Section 2-8-70. If the State Election Commission determines that the petition meets the requirements of this chapter and declares the petition sufficient, the commission shall submit the proposed law or constitutional amendment to the qualified electors of this State at the next general election.
Section 2-8-80. (A) A proposed statutory law or constitutional amendment submitted to the people by initiative that is approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting on the proposed law or constitutional amendment becomes a statutory law of this State or a part of the constitution on July first following the general election. The State Election Commission shall certify the results to the Code Commissioner who shall assign the statutory law or constitutional amendment to an appropriate place in the code of laws or the constitution.
(B) No statutory law or constitutional amendment adopted by the people is subject to veto by the Governor.
(C) A statutory law approved by the people pursuant to this chapter may be amended or repealed by the General Assembly after it takes effect. A constitutional amendment approved by the people pursuant to this chapter may be amended or repealed in the manner provided in this chapter or as provided in Article XVI of the constitution of this State.
(D) If provisions of two or more measures approved at the same election conflict, those of the measure receiving the highest affirmative vote shall prevail.
Section 2-8-90. (A) Within ten days of certification by the Board of State Canvassers of the general election's results in which a proposed law or constitutional amendment is submitted to the people by initiative, a qualified elector who signed the petition to submit the measure may appeal the election's results to the State Election Commission.
(B) A defeated initiative may not be resubmitted to the qualified electors of this State within four years of the general election in which the initiative was defeated.
Section 2-8-100. Every person who is a qualified elector of this State may sign a petition for the initiation of any measure upon which he is legally entitled to vote. A person signing a name other than his own to a petition, or knowingly signing his name more than once for the same measure at one election, or who is not at the time he signs the petition a qualified elector of this State, or an officer or person who knowingly and wilfully violates a provision of this chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, must be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than ninety days, or both."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect on the ratification of an amendment to the Constitution of this State authorizing the provisions of this act./
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.
DAVID H. WILKINS, for Committee.
TO PROVIDE FOR THE ENACTMENT OF LEGISLATION BY INITIATIVE PETITION.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The General Assembly authorizes the enactment of legislation by citizen initiative petition as follows:
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.