Proposed Bill To Add Fiscal Notes To Citizen Initiatives
A proposed bill that would attach fiscal impact statements to citizen-led initiative questions is being championed by its sponsor as a move toward transparency, but opponents said it would create an unfair disadvantage.
Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, is sponsoring “An Act to Modify the Citizen Initiative Process,” which would require the Office of Fiscal and Program Review to generate a fiscal note for citizen-led legislation. The bill would also require an initiative’s sponsors to identify how their measure would be funded, and all of that information would be printed on ballots. Citizen initiatives are triggered when a group drafts a bill and circulates it to gather at least 10 percent of the number of voters who participated in the previous gubernatorial election. That number is currently 55,087.
“I am a fan of the citizen initiative process, but I think we can do it better,” said Cain last week to the Legal and Veteran’s Affairs Committee. “Voters need to understand (what an initiative) is going to cost.”
But Dan Billings, a Republican activist who is part of the group Maine Leads, which was involved in efforts to bring three questions to next November’s ballot, said Cain’s bill is unfair and possibly unconstitutional.
“It would be inappropriate to put that information on the ballot,” said Billings. “(The fiscal note) is just someone’s opinion that might not be totally objective. I don’t think we want to go down the path of arguing the merits of the question on the ballot.”… (read more)