Montana Code 13-27-216. Statutory initiative process and procedure
13-27-216. Statutory initiative process and procedure. (1) (a) A proponent of a statutory initiative shall submit the text of the proposed statutory initiative to the secretary of state together with draft ballot statements and the filing fee required by 13-27-215. The secretary of state shall, without undue delay, forward a copy of the text of the proposed statutory initiative and ballot statements to the legislative services division for review in accordance with 13-27-225.
Terms Used In Montana Code 13-27-216
- Adjournment sine die: The end of a legislative session "without day." These adjournments are used to indicate the final adjournment of an annual or the two-year session of legislature.
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Ballot: means a paper ballot counted manually or a paper ballot counted by a machine, such as an optical scan system or other technology that automatically tabulates votes cast by processing the paper ballots. See Montana Code 13-1-101
- Ballot statements: means a statement of purpose and implication and a yes and no statement. See Montana Code 13-27-110
- Election: means a general, special, or primary election held pursuant to the requirements of state law, regardless of the time or purpose. See Montana Code 13-1-101
- legally sufficient: means that a petition complies with statutory and constitutional requirements governing submission of the proposed issue to the qualified electors and the substantive legality of the proposed issue if approved by the voters. See Montana Code 13-27-110
- Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
- Person: means an individual, corporation, association, firm, partnership, cooperative, committee, including a political committee, club, union, or other organization or group of individuals or a candidate as defined in subsection (8). See Montana Code 13-1-101
- Petition: means a petition for a statewide initiative or a statutory referendum prepared pursuant to the requirements of this chapter. See Montana Code 13-27-110
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Statutory initiative: means an initiative to enact statutory law as authorized in Article III, section 4, of the Montana constitution. See Montana Code 13-27-110
- Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203
(b)A proposed statutory initiative may not be accepted by the secretary of state until 10 days after the adjournment sine die of the regular legislative session preceding the general election during which the proposal is intended to be voted on. The prohibitions on acceptance of a proposed statutory initiative provided in this subsection (1)(b) do not apply to a submission received on or after the date that falls 130 days after the date that the legislature convened in regular session pursuant to 5-2-103, even if the legislature has not adjourned sine die. If the secretary of state rejects a proposed statutory initiative pursuant to this subsection (1)(b), the secretary of state shall promptly notify the person who submitted the proposal of the reason for the rejection.
(2)Within 14 days after receiving the proposed statutory initiative from the secretary of state, the legislative services division shall respond in writing to the proponent in accordance with 13-27-225.
(3)After the proponent responds to the legislative services division as provided in 13-27-225, the proponent shall submit the final text of the proposed statutory initiative and ballot statements to the secretary of state. However, if a response to the legislative services division is not required by the proponent pursuant to 13-27-225, the proponent shall instead submit the final text of the proposed statutory initiative and ballot statements to the secretary of state after the proponent receives the legislative services division’s response.
(4)On receipt of the final text of the proposed statutory initiative and the ballot statements, the secretary of state shall reject the proposed statutory initiative if the text or a ballot statement contains material not submitted to the legislative services division that is a substantive change not recommended by the legislative services division. Otherwise, the secretary of state shall, without undue delay, refer a copy of the proposed statutory initiative and ballot statements concurrently to the budget director and to the attorney general for the attorney general’s review in accordance with 13-27-226.
(5)The budget director shall determine whether a fiscal note is necessary. If the budget director determines a fiscal note is necessary, the budget director shall prepare a fiscal note, notify the attorney general of the necessity of the fiscal note, and provide a copy of the fiscal note pursuant to 13-27-227 within 10 days. Receipt of the notice from the budget director begins the time frame in subsection (7).
(6)In addition to the requirements of 13-27-226, the attorney general shall:
(a)include in the attorney general’s legal sufficiency review whether the proposed statutory initiative constitutes an appropriation as set forth in 13-27-239; and
(b)review the proposed statutory initiative as to whether the proposal could cause a regulatory taking under Montana law or otherwise will likely cause significant material harm to one or more business interests in the state if approved by the voters. If the attorney general determines the proposed statutory initiative will likely cause significant material harm to one or more business interests in the state, the attorney general shall notify the secretary of state, which must include the finding set forth in 13-27-238(2) on the final form of the petition.
(7)Within 30 days of receipt of the proposed statutory initiative from the secretary of state, the attorney general shall complete the requirements set forth in 13-27-226 and subsection (6) of this section.
(8)The secretary of state shall review the legal sufficiency opinion received pursuant to 13-27-226.
(a)If the attorney general finds that the proposed statutory initiative is not legally sufficient, the secretary of state shall, without undue delay, send written notice to the person who submitted the proposal that the proposed statutory initiative has been rejected. The notice must include a copy of the attorney general’s legal sufficiency opinion.
(b)If the attorney general finds that the proposed statutory initiative is legally sufficient, the secretary of state shall, without undue delay, provide the executive director of the legislative services division a copy of the final text of the proposed statutory initiative and ballot statements in accordance with 13-27-228. After the executive director of the legislative services division provides the secretary of state the outcome of the vote as required by 13-27-228, the secretary of state shall immediately send a sample petition form as provided in 13-27-233 to the person submitting the proposed statutory initiative.