pay-per-signature
Ballot Access News reports that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is likely to veto Senate Bill 34. The bill, which passed an Assembly committee yesterday, would ban paying petition circulators by the signature.
The Miami Herald is reporting that two bills that would have significantly altered Florida’s election law, including banning paying petition circulators by signature, is unlikely to pass this year. The legislative session is scheduled to end May 1.
The 26th Alaska Legislature closed its session Sunday without passing House Bill 36. The bill would have required campaign finance reporting for initiative supporters and banned payment-per-signature.
Paying signature gatherers per-signature is the industry standard, even though critics claim that it invites fraud. Industry experts and ballot initiative rights supporters say that since initiative proponents only pay for valid signatures, it actually reduces fraud and increases productivity.
A state House Panel has passed a bill that would place several regulations on the ballot initiative process in Colorado. The measure would ban payment on a per-signature basis, require petition companies to register with the state, and move up the deadline to file signatures.
Citizens, do you think Alaska legislators should take away some of your power to write laws by voter initiative?
Rep. Kyle Johansen (R-Ketchikan) thinks so.
He has filed a bill making it much harder for citizens to get an initiative on the ballot. Anchorage Rep. Charisse Millett and Wrangell Rep. Peggy Wilson, both Republicans, have joined his effort.
Earlier this month Citizens in Charge sent out an action alert about Virginia HB 2642 which contained a provision that would have banned payment of petition circulators by signature. A similar ban in Ohio was struck down as unconstitutional by the 6th Circuit Court of appeals, and the Supreme Court denied the state’s appeal in this case. Thanks to activists taking charge by standing up and informing legislators of the constitutional problems associated with the ban, the provision was struck from the bill by a Senate committee earlier this week.
As a case from Arizona concerning a ban on non-residents circulating petitions is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the High Court just last week denied the State of Ohio’s appeal of a federal court ruling that the state’s ban on per signature payments to petition circulators is unconstitutional.