H 3236 Session 110 (1993-1994)
H 3236 General Bill, By H.H. Clyborne, Allison, H. Brown, Cooper, R.S. Corning,
H.M. Hallman, B.H. Harwell, Klauber, Law, Riser, Simrill, C.H. Stone,
C.L. Sturkie, S.S. Wofford and R.M. Young
A Bill to amend Title 2, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, relating to the
administration of government and the General Assembly by adding Chapter 8 so
as to provide for the enactment of legislation by initiative petition.
01/21/93 House Introduced and read first time HJ-6
01/21/93 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-6
A BILL
TO AMEND TITLE 2, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
1976, RELATING TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT
AND THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BY ADDING CHAPTER 8 SO AS
TO PROVIDE FOR THE ENACTMENT OF LEGISLATION BY
INITIATIVE PETITION.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Title 2 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"CHAPTER 8
South Carolina Initiative Petition Act
Section 2-8-10. This chapter may be cited as the Initiative Petition
Act.
Section 2-8-20. As provided under Article XVII of the Constitution
of this State, qualified electors, by joining in a petition to be filed in the
office of the State Election Commission, may initiate a desired statutory
law or constitutional amendment and cause the same to be submitted to
the qualified electors of this State at the next general election.
Section 2-8-30. (A) No measure that relates to religion, religious
practices, or religious institutions; or to the appointment, qualification,
tenure, removal, recall, or compensation of judges, or to the reversal of
a judicial decision; or to the powers, creation, or abolition of courts; or
the operation of which is restricted to a particular municipality or other
political division; or state appropriations may be proposed by an
initiative petition. However, if a law approved by the people is not
repealed, the General Assembly shall appropriate the money necessary
to implement the law.
(B) No measure that relates to more than one subject may be
proposed by an initiative petition.
Section 2-8-40. (A) Before circulating a petition proposing a
statutory law or a constitutional amendment, an application, developed
by the State Election Commission, along with five certified copies must
be filed in the office of the State Election Commission. The application
must be signed by no fewer than five qualified electors, hereinafter
designated as `sponsors'. Each sponsor shall sign the application,
provide his complete address, precinct, and voter registration number,
and shall acknowledge his signature under oath before an officer
competent to administer oaths. No additional sponsors may be added
after the original application is filed. The application must include a
copy of the petition that sets forth a full and correct copy of the proposed
measure.
(B) The State Election Commission shall certify whether or not the
measure in an application filed pursuant to subsection (A):
(1) is in proper form as to text and title for submission to the
people;
(2) is not, either affirmatively or negatively, substantially the
same as any measure which has been qualified for submission or
submitted to the people at the preceding statewide general election;
(3) relates to only one subject; and
(4) relates to a subject not excluded pursuant to Section 2-8-30.
(C) If the application meets the requirements of subsection (A) of
this section and the commission certifies that the proposed measure
meets the requirements of subsection (B) of this section, the commission
shall approve the application.
(D) The commission shall provide blanks for the use of subsequent
signers and shall print at the top of each blank a fair, concise summary
of the proposed measure. The summary of both a statutory law and a
constitutional amendment must be prepared by the State Constitutional
Ballot Commission. If the measure is placed on the ballot, the summary
from the petition must also appear on the ballot.
(E) After an application is approved, the State Election Commission
shall, within ten days, furnish a certified copy of the petition to each
sponsor. No blank may be circulated for signatures unless it is attached
to a certified petition copy.
(F) Upon receipt of certified petition copies, the sponsors shall
circulate and obtain all signatures on the initiative petition blanks within
six months. A signature obtained more than six months before the filing
date is invalid.
Section 2-8-50. (A) A valid signature on the initiative petition must
include the name, complete address, precinct, and voter registration
number of the signer, and the date of the signature.
(B) No signature on a petition is valid unless it is made in the
presence of a sponsor. Each separate sheet of the petition containing
signatures must be verified on the back by the sponsor in whose
presence the sheets were signed.
Section 2-8-60. (A) Each initiative petition, when signed and
verified as provided in this chapter, must be delivered at least one
hundred eighty days before any general election to the State Election
Commission so that the commission may determine whether the petition
conforms to the requirements of this chapter.
(B) The State Election Commission shall check all of the names of
the signers against official voter registration lists and certify on the
petition whether or not each name is that of a qualified elector. The
number of names appearing on each verified petition copy that are
certified as qualified electors must be counted. If the number of names
properly signed, verified, and certified equals or exceeds ten percent of
the qualified electors eligible to vote at the last general election as
required by Article XVII of the Constitution of this State, the State
Election Commission shall mark the petition as sufficient. If the number
of names properly signed, verified, and certified does not equal or
exceed the ten percent of the qualified electors eligible to vote at the last
general election as required by Article XVII of the Constitution of this
State, the State Election Commission shall mark the petition as
insufficient. The State Election Commission shall notify any one of the
petition's sponsors of its finding.
Section 2-8-70. If the State Election Commission determines that
the petition meets the requirements of this chapter and declares the
petition sufficient, the commission shall submit the proposed law or
constitutional amendment to the qualified electors of this State at the
next general election.
Section 2-8-80. (A) A proposed statutory law or constitutional
amendment submitted to the people by initiative that is approved by a
majority of the qualified electors voting on the proposed law or
constitutional amendment becomes a statutory law of this State or a part
of the Constitution on July first following the general election. The
State Election Commission shall certify the results to the Code
Commissioner who shall assign the statutory law or constitutional
amendment to an appropriate place in the code of laws or the
Constitution.
(B) No statutory law or constitutional amendment adopted by the
people is subject to veto by the Governor.
(C) A statutory law approved by the people pursuant to this chapter
may be amended or repealed by the General Assembly after it takes
effect. A constitutional amendment approved by the people pursuant to
this chapter may be amended or repealed in the manner provided in this
chapter or as provided in Article XVI of the Constitution of this State.
(D) If provisions of two or more measures approved at the same
election conflict, those of the measure receiving the highest affirmative
vote shall prevail.
Section 2-8-90. (A) Within ten days of certification by the Board
of State Canvassers of the general election's results in which a proposed
law or constitutional amendment is submitted to the people by initiative,
a qualified elector who signed the petition to submit the measure may
appeal the election's results to the State Election Commission.
(B) A defeated initiative may not be resubmitted to the qualified
electors of this State within four years of the general election in which
the initiative was defeated.
Section 2-8-100. Every person who is a qualified elector of this State
may sign a petition for the initiation of any measure upon which he is
legally entitled to vote. A person signing a name other than his own to
a petition, or knowingly signing his name more than once for the same
measure at one election, or who is not at the time he signs the petition
a qualified elector of this State, or an officer or person who knowingly
and wilfully violates a provision of this chapter, is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, must be punished by a fine of not
more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than
ninety days, or both."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect on the ratification of an amendment
to the Constitution of this State authorizing the provisions of this act.
-----XX----- |