An Act To Enact the Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Act
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1583
Committee Amendment CA_A_H318 (House)

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 1145, L.D. 1583, Bill, "An Act To 
Enact the Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Act" 
Amend the bill in section 1 in § 1132 by striking out all of subsection 13 (page 2, lines 
to 37 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'13. Qualifying period. "Qualifying period" means the time period that begins upon 
the filing of an application to initiate a citizens' initiative ballot question under section 
and ends 120 days after the petition has been filed as required by the Constitution of 
Maine, Article IV, Part Third, Section 17 for a people's veto or Article IV, Part Third, 
Section 18 for a direct initiative of legislation.' 
Amend the bill in section 1 in § 113 5 in subsection 2 in paragraph A in the first line 
(page 5, line 3 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: "May" the following: ', in 
addition to collecting seed money contributions under subsection 4, collect contributions 
and make expenditures to collect signatures for the ballot question. The ballot question 
committee may' 
Amend the bill in section 1 in § 113 5 in subsection 2 in paragraph B in the last line 
(page 5, line 13 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: "question" the following: 'at a 
time' 
Amend the bill in section 1 in § 113 5 in subsection 8 in the 8th line (page 7, line 8 in 
L.D.) by inserting after the following: "of intent" the following: 'and may not be used to 
collect signatures for the ballot question' 
Amend the bill by inserting after section 2 the following: 
'Sec. 3. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and 
allocations are made. 
ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF 
Revenue Services, Bureau of 0002 
Initiative: Provides one-time funding for programming costs to add 2 new voluntary 
checkoffs to the individual income tax return. 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
('Jlv,· 'd 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT~ "to H.P. 1145, L.D. 1583 
GENERAL FUND 
All Other 
GENERAL FUND TOTAL 
ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL 
SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF 
DEPARTMENT TOTALS 
GENERAL FUND 
DEPARTMENT TOTAL-ALL FUNDS 
2019-20 
$22,000 
$22,000 
2019-20 
$22,000 
$22,000 
2020-21 
$0 
$0 
2020-21 
$0 
$0 
ETHICS AND ELECTION PRACTICES, COMMISSION ON GOVERNMENTAL 
Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Fund N319 
Initiative: Provides an allocation for temporary staffing to process additional qualifying 
contributions and to assist with compliance monitoring. 
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS 
All Other 
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS TOTAL 
Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Fund N319 
2019-20 
$23,614 
$23,614 
2020-21 
$24,270 
$24,270 
Initiative: Provides an allocation for disbursement of funds to certified committees. 
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS 
All Other 
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS TOTAL 
ETIDCS AND ELECTION PRACTICES, 
COMMISSION ON GOVERNMENTAL 
DEPARTMENT TOTALS 
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS 
DEPARTMENT TOTAL-ALL FUNDS 
2019-20 
$750,000 
$750,000 
2019-20 
$773,614 
$773,614 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
2020-21 
$1,500,000 
$1,500,000 
2020-21 
$1,524,270 
$1,524,270 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A "to H.P. 1145, L.D. 1583 
SECTION TOTALS 
GENERAL FUND 
OTHER SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS 
SECTION TOTAL - ALL FUNDS 
2019-20 
$22,000 
$773,614 
$795,614 
2020-21 
$0 
$1,524,270 
$1,524,270 
Amend the bill by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or 
section number to read consecutively. 
SUMMARY 
This amendment, which is the minority report of the committee, makes technical 
changes to the Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Act established in the bill. The 
amendment clarifies that a ballot question committee that wishes to participate in the Act 
and that supports a direct initiative or people's veto may, in addition to collecting seed 
money contributions, collect a limited amount of contributions and make a limited 
amount of expenditures specifically for the purposes of gathering signatures on the ballot 
question petition. The amendment clarifies that a ballot question committee that wishes 
to participate in the Act may be involved in collecting signatures for only one ballot 
question at a time and may not expend any revenues distributed from the Maine Citizens' 
Initiatives Clean Election Fund on signature-gathering activities. 
The amendment also provides that the qualifying period, during which ballot question 
committees may collect qualifying contributions for certification under the Act, 
commences for all committees on the date that an application to initiate proceedings for a 
direct initiative or people's veto is filed with the Secretary of State under the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 21-A, section 901. 
The amendment adds an appropriations and allocations section. 
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED 
(See attached) 
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 
/of~ 
Approved: 05/16/19 ;Wac.. 
LO 1583 
LR284(02) 
An Act To Enact the Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Act 
Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment ,A { fJ,, JJE) 
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs 
Fiscal Note Required: Yes 
Fiscal Note 
Projections 
Projections 
FY 2019-20 
FY2020-21 
FY 2021-22 
FY2022-23 
Net Cost (Savings) 
General Fund 
$3,022,000 
$3,000,000 
$3,000,000 
$3,000,000 
Appropriations/ Allocations 
General Fund 
$22,000 
$0 
$0 
$0 
Other Special Revenue Funds 
$773,614 
$1,524,270 
$1,524,945 
$1,525,638 
Transfers 
General Fund 
($3,000,000) 
($3,000,000) 
($3,000,000) 
($3,000,000) 
Other Special Revenue Funds 
$3,000,000 
$3,000,000 
$3,000,000 
$3,000,000 
Correctional and Judicial Impact Statements 
The additional workload associated with the minimal number of new cases filed in the court system does not require 
additional funding at this time. 
The collection of additional fine revenue will increase General Fund and dedicated revenue by minor amounts. 
Fiscal Detail and Notes 
This bill establishes the Maine Citizens' Initiatives Clean Election Fund (the fund) within the Commission on 
Governmental Ethics and Election Practices (CGEEP) to provide a public financing mechanism for groups that meet 
specific criteria to support or oppose a direct initiative of legislation or a people's veto or to support a competing 
measure to a direct initiative of legislation. A group must collect 2,500 qualifying contributions to receive an initial 
distribution of $600,000; for each additional 240 qualifying contributions the group will receive an additional $50,000 
up to a maximum amount of $1,000,000 per group. The fund will receive an annual transfer of $3,000,000 from the 
unappropriated surplus of the General Fund on or before January 1st of each year beginning January 1, 2020. Other 
funding will come from qualifying contributions raised by committees, voluntary contributions through a tax checkoff 
program, seed money contributions remaining unspent after a ballot question committee becomes a certified 
committee, fund revenues unspent after a referendum on a ballot question and certain fines collected related to the bill. 
The bill includes a one-time General Fund appropriation of $22,000 to the Department of Administrative and Financial 
Services in fiscal year 2019-20 for programming costs to add two new voluntary checkoffs to the individual income tax 
return. The bill also includes allocations to the GCEEP of $750,000 in fiscal year 2019-20 and $1,500,000 in fiscal 
year 2020-21 for distribution of funds to certified committees and $23,614 in fiscal year 2019-20 and $24,270 in fiscal 
year 2020-21 for one limited-period position to process additional qualifying contributions and to assist with 
compliance monitoring. 
LR0284(02) - Fiscal Note - Page 1 of 2 
(JA-( JI-3/g) 
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The bill requires that the annual $3,000,000 transfers from the General Fund be offset by equivalent reductions in tax 
expenditures as defined in Title 36, section 199-A, subsection 2. As no guidance is provided in the bill on which tax 
expenditures will be eliminated nor on who will make that decision, and with no notwithstanding language to allow tax 
expenditures described in current statute to be eliminated, this fiscal note does not reflect any $3,000,000 offset to the 
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LR0284(02) - Fiscal Note· Page 2 of2