Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has requested an opinion from Attorney General Dana Nessel on the constitutionality of changes to Michigan’s initiative and referendum process that was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor in December 2018.
Within Public Act 608, Secretary Benson is specifically
asking the Attorney General to determine the constitutionality of:
- The
establishment of a minimum geographic distribution requirement for petition
signatures and a limitation on the number of signatures per congressional
district that count toward sufficiency.
- Whether
the secretary of state retains authority to prescribe a substantially compliant,
congressional district-based form for statewide ballot proposal petitions given
P.A. 608’s elimination of the countywide petition form.
- The
requirement for paid signature gatherers to file an affidavit before
circulating petitions.
- The
option created by P.A. 608 for a petition sponsor to voluntarily seek approval
of the content of the petition summary to avoid future challenges and the
disadvantage it would place on sponsors of referendum petitions.
- The
requirement to file with the Michigan Supreme Court any legal challenge
regarding a determination by the board of state canvassers of the sufficiency
or insufficiency of an initiative petition and that the challenge be advanced
on the Supreme Court’s docket.
- Penalties
that could require the rejection of otherwise valid petition signatures if a
petition circulator doesn’t comply with all of the requirements of the act.
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