Montana Code 13-27-228. Review by legislative committee
13-27-228. Review by legislative committee. (1) If the attorney general finds that a proposed statewide initiative is legally sufficient as provided in this part, the secretary of state shall provide the executive director of the legislative services division with a copy of the final text of the proposed statewide initiative and ballot statements. The executive director shall forward the information to the appropriate interim committee for review in accordance with 5-5-215. If questions arise regarding which interim committee has jurisdiction over the matter, the executive director shall direct the review to the legislative council in accordance with 5-11-105.
Terms Used In Montana Code 13-27-228
- 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
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- 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
- 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
- Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
- 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
- Statewide initiative: means a constitutional initiative, a constitutional convention initiative, or a statutory initiative. See Montana Code 13-27-110
(2)(a) The appropriate interim committee or the legislative council shall meet and hold a public hearing after receiving the information and vote to either support or not support the placement of the proposed statewide initiative text on the ballot.
(b)The interim committee or the legislative council may request a fiscal note if one was previously not determined necessary and may request a revised fiscal note from the budget director if new information is provided which would impact the fiscal note determination or accuracy of the initial fiscal note.
(c)For the purposes of this section, proxies must be allowed for legislators unable to participate if a quorum of the interim committee or legislative council meets.
(d)Nothing in this section prevents the interim committee or legislative council from meeting remotely or via conference call or other electronic means.
(3)(a) The executive director shall provide written correspondence to the secretary of state stating the name of the council or interim committee that voted on the proposal pursuant to subsection (2)(a), the date of the vote, and the outcome of the vote conducted in accordance with this section.
(b)The outcome of the vote must be submitted to the secretary of state no later than 14 days after receipt of the final text of the proposed statewide initiative and ballot statements.
(4)The outcome of the vote by an interim committee or the legislative council may not be reflected in the statewide initiative’s statement of purpose and implication, the statewide initiative’s petition title, or the ballot title if the statewide initiative is placed on the ballot.