Opinion ID: 884780
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: issues

Text: ¶ 10 Is this action barred under the applicable statute of limitation? ¶ 11 A suit to determine the validity and constitutionality of a petition for initiative or referendum must be initiated within fourteen days of the date the petition has been approved as to form by the local government attorney. Section 7-5-135(1), MCA. In this case, the petition for referendum was approved as to form on January 30, 1996, and this action was filed fourteen days later, on February 13, 1996. ¶ 12 Appellants point out that under § 7-5-134, MCA, the county must, as a preliminary matter, approve or reject a petition for initiative or referendum within twenty-one days after the sample petition is submitted for approval as to form. In this case, the sample petition was filed on January 8, 1996, and the notice of approval as to form was filed twenty-two days later, on January 30, 1996. Appellants assert that the maximum time allowable between submission of a referendum for approval by the county and commencement of an action to challenge it is the sum of the time frames allowed under 7-5-134 and -135, MCA: thirty-five days. In this case, a total of thirty-six days elapsed between those two events. ¶ 13 The District Court ruled that this argument did not have merit. We agree. Section 7-5-135, MCA, sets the limitation period in which a local government must file suit on the validity of a petition for referendum or initiative; § 7-5-134, MCA, does not speak to that issue. Appellants' consolidation of the two time frames is unsupported by statute; nor have they offered any case law in support of their position. We hold that this action was timely filed within fourteen days of approval of the referendum as to form as required under § 7-5-135, MCA.