PRIOR PASSAGE - NONE
PRINTER'S NO. 354
No. 327 Session of 1993
INTRODUCED BY SAURMAN, KREBS, NAILOR, FLICK, STRITTMATTER,
ARGALL, KENNEY, LYNCH AND KING, FEBRUARY 8, 1993
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, FEBRUARY 8, 1993
A JOINT RESOLUTION
1 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth
2 of Pennsylvania, authorizing the use of the indirect
3 initiative and referendum as powers reserved to the people.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby resolves as follows:
6 Section 1. The following amendment to the Constitution of
7 Pennsylvania is proposed in accordance with Article XI:
8 That Article III be amended by adding a section to read:
9 § 33. Powers reserved to the people.
10 (a) (1) The legislative power of this Commonwealth shall be
11 vested in the Senate and the House of Representatives, but the
12 people reserve to themselves the power to propose laws and
13 amendments to the Constitution at the polls.
14 (2) The indirect initiative is the power of the electors to
15 propose statutes and amendments to the Constitution and to cause
16 the General Assembly to take a vote in each House on the
17 approved proposal in the current legislative session or, if the
1 proposal is approved at a general election, no later than the
2 next legislative session.
3 (3) An indirect initiative measure may be proposed by
4 presenting to the Secretary of the Commonwealth a petition that
5 sets forth the text of the proposed statute or amendment to the
6 Constitution and is certified by the Secretary of the
7 Commonwealth to have been signed by registered electors equal in
8 number to 5% of the votes for all candidates for Governor at the
9 last gubernatorial election in each of the 34 counties in this
10 Commonwealth.
11 (4) The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall only certify a
12 measure on which all signatures on petitions are obtained and
13 affixed to the petitions for the measure during the same regular
14 session of the General Assembly and which is submitted by 5:00
15 p.m. on Friday after the second Thursday of February in the
16 second year of that session.
17 (5) An indirect initiative measure embracing more than one
18 subject may not be submitted to the electors or have any effect.
19 (6) No measure that relates to religion, religious practices
20 and institutions; the appointment, qualification, tenure,
21 removal, recall or compensation of judges; the reversal of a
22 judicial decision; the powers, creation or abolition of courts;
23 the making of a specific appropriation of money from the
24 treasury; and the naming of a private corporation to perform a
25 function or to have a power or duty shall be proposed by an
26 indirect initiative petition.
27 (7) The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall submit the
28 measure at the next general, municipal, primary or special
29 statewide election held at least 75 days after it qualifies.
30 (8) The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall then submit the
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1 measure to the clerk of the House of Representatives within ten
2 House session days of its receipt and to the clerk of the Senate
3 within ten Senate session days of its receipt.
4 (9) The measure shall be referred to the appropriate
5 committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, and the
6 committees shall report out their respective measures for
7 consideration by the full Senate and House of Representatives
8 respectively.
9 (b) (1) The legislative power of this Commonwealth shall be
10 vested in the Senate and the House of Representatives, but the
11 people reserve to themselves the power, at their own option, to
12 reject statutes or parts of statutes passed by the General
13 Assembly.
14 (2) The referendum is the power of the electors to reject
15 statutes or parts of statutes except urgency statutes or
16 statutes calling elections.
17 (3) A referendum measure may be proposed by presenting to
18 the Secretary of the Commonwealth, within 90 days after the
19 enactment date of the statute, a petition certified to have been
20 signed by registered electors equal in number to 5% of the votes
21 for all candidates for Governor at the last gubernatorial
22 election in each of the 34 counties in this Commonwealth asking
23 that the statute or part of it be submitted to the electors.
24 (4) If a petition is certified to have been signed by
25 registered electors equal to 10% of the votes for all candidates
26 for Governor at the last gubernatorial election in each of the
27 34 counties in this Commonwealth, the effective date of the
28 enacted legislation is suspended until the next election at
29 which time the measure shall be submitted to the electors.
30 (5) The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall submit the
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1 measure at the next general, municipal, primary or special
2 statewide election held at least 75 days after it qualifies.
3 (c) (1) The General Assembly shall provide the manner in
4 which petitions shall be circulated, presented and certified and
5 require by law measures to insure full disclosure of
6 disbursements made and receipts obtained by parties who have an
7 interest in indirect initiative and referendum measures and who
8 have exceeded a statutory threshold for these disbursements and
9 receipts for any one indirect initiative or referendum measure
10 in each election. The General Assembly shall also require by law
11 reasonable limits on contributions made to parties who have an
12 interest in the passage or defeat of an indirect initiative or
13 referendum measure for each measure and in each election. The
14 General Assembly shall also require by law the full disclosure
15 of any disbursements made by a person or corporation from
16 another state to advocate the passage or defeat of an indirect
17 initiative or referendum measure. The General Assembly shall,
18 within 90 days following the adoption of this section, enact the
19 legislation outlined in this paragraph.
20 (2) An indirect initiative or referendum petition, in order
21 to be eligible for certification by the Secretary of the
22 Commonwealth, shall first be signed by 100 registered electors
23 of the Commonwealth, the originators, who shall pay an
24 administrative fee not exceeding the fee required by law for the
25 filing of nomination petitions by candidates for public office
26 to be filled by the electors of the State-at-large. If the
27 Secretary of the Commonwealth shall certify that the petition
28 contains the entire text of the measure, that the measure is
29 not, either affirmatively or negatively, substantially the same
30 as any measure which has been previously submitted to the
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1 electors during the same session of the General Assembly, and
2 that it contains only one subject which is not excluded from
3 consideration under this section, then the Secretary of the
4 Commonwealth shall provide blanks for the use of subsequent
5 signers and shall print at the top of each blank the names of
6 the first ten originators and a fair, concise summary, as
7 determined by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, of the proposed
8 measure as the summary will appear on the ballot.
9 (3) The Department of State shall, within ten days of the
10 certification of an indirect initiative or referendum petition
11 upon which the required number of signatures have been affixed,
12 prepare an explanation or argument, or both, for, and also an
13 explanation or argument, or both, against, the same. The
14 Secretary of the Commonwealth shall then publish the summary and
15 explanations and arguments, together with the entire text of the
16 measure, in as many newspapers of general circulation as deemed
17 by the Secretary of the Commonwealth to be sufficient to give
18 notice throughout the Commonwealth at least 20 days before the
19 election in which the measure is presented to the electors. This
20 information shall also be made available to the general public
21 in printed form.
22 (4) The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall certify no more
23 than two indirect initiative or two referendum measures in an
24 election. Each measure shall be limited to only one subject. If
25 more than two measures are submitted to the Secretary of the
26 Commonwealth in one election, the two measures with the largest
27 numbers of signatures shall be certified. If two or more
28 measures are substantially similar in subject matter, whether or
29 not they conflict, only the measure with the largest number of
30 signatures shall be certified.
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1 (5) No measure shall appear on the ballot in an election
2 more often than once during a legislative session.
3 (6) The General Assembly may override a referendum statute
4 only upon a vote of two-thirds of the members elected to the
5 Senate and the House of Representatives.
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