An Act Regarding the Collection of Signatures for a Direct Initiative
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 0906
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
Sponsors: TIMBERLAKE, KATZ, SEAVEY, SIROCKI, STROM, TURNER, WINSOR, HAMPER, LANGLEY, MASON
Amends: 21-A MRSA §901-A

Legislative Document
No. 906
H.P. 634
House of Representatives, March 7, 2017
An Act Regarding the Collection of Signatures for a Direct Initiative
Reference to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative TIMBERLAKE of Turner.
Cosponsored by Senator KATZ of Kennebec and
Representatives: SEAVEY of Kennebunkport, SIROCKI of Scarborough, STROM of 
Pittsfield, TURNER of Burlington, WINSOR of Norway, Senators: HAMPER of Oxford, 
LANGLEY of Hancock, MASON of Androscoggin.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  21-A MRSA §901-A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 611, §1, is further 
amended to read: 
§901-A.  Petition requirements for direct initiatives of legislation 
The following provisions apply to direct initiatives of legislation under the 
Constitution of Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 18. 
1.  Full text of direct initiative and fiscal impact statement and opportunity to 
read full text of direct initiative, direct initiative summary and fiscal impact 
statement.  A person circulating a petition must give a voter that voter's own printed 
paper copy of the full text of the direct initiative and the fiscal impact statement and 
provide the voter the opportunity to read the full text of the direct initiative and the 
proposed direct initiative summary and fiscal impact statement required by section 901 
prior to that voter signing the petition.  The summary presented to the voter must be as it 
appears on a publicly accessible website established by the Secretary of State. 
2.  Required statements; placement of information.  On each page of a petition 
that contains space intended for voter signatures, the Secretary of State shall include a 
space at the top right or left corner of each such page to be submitted to the voters, which 
must be filled in with the name of the circulator collecting signatures on that petition and 
a unique identifying number, and include the fiscal impact of the initiative as described in 
Title 1, section 353 directly below the following statement at the top of the petition in a 
type size of no less than 16 points: 
"Freedom of Citizen Information: Before a registered voter signs any initiative 
petition, signature gatherers must offer the voter the opportunity to read the full text 
of the proposed initiative, proposed initiative summary and fiscal impact statement 
prepared by the Secretary of State." 
SUMMARY 
This bill requires a person circulating a petition for a direct initiative of legislation to 
give a voter that voter's own printed paper copy of the full text of the direct initiative and 
the fiscal impact statement and provide the voter the opportunity to read the full text of 
the direct initiative prior to that voter signing the petition.  Current law also requires a 
person circulating a petition for a direct initiative of legislation to provide the voter the 
opportunity to read the proposed direct initiative summary and fiscal impact statement.