HOUSE BILL NO. 2124 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE BANDERMAN.
4264H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT To repeal sections 116.030, 116.040, 116.050, 116.080, 116.090, 116.110, 116.130, 116.153, 116.190, 116.200, 116.332, and 116.334, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof twelve new sections relating to initiative petitions and referendums, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 116.030, 116.040, 116.050, 116.080, 116.090, 116.110, 116.130, 2 116.153, 116.190, 116.200, 116.332, and 116.334, RSMo, are repealed and twelve new 3 sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 116.030, 116.040, 116.045, 116.050, 4 116.080, 116.090, 116.110, 116.130, 116.190, 116.200, 116.332, and 116.334, to read as 5 follows: 116.030. The following shall be substantially the form of each page of referendum 2 petitions on any law passed by the general assembly of the state of Missouri: 3 County ______ 4 Page No. ______ 5 It is a class A misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions 6 of section [560.021] 558.002, RSMo, to the contrary, for a term of 7 imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail or a fine not to 8 exceed ten thousand dollars or both, for anyone to sign any referendum 9 petition with any name other than his or her own, or knowingly to sign 10 his or her name more than once for the same measure for the same 11 election, or to sign a petition when such person knows he or she is not a 12 registered voter. 13 PETITION FOR REFERENDUM
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. HB 2124 2
14 To the Honorable ______, Secretary of State for the state of Missouri: 15 We, the undersigned, registered voters of the state of Missouri and ___ 16 ___ County (or City of St. Louis), respectfully order that the Senate (or 17 House) Bill No. ______ entitled (title of law), passed by the ______ 18 general assembly of the state of Missouri, at the ______ regular (or 19 special) session of the ______ general assembly, shall be referred to the 20 voters of the state of Missouri, for their approval or rejection, at the 21 general election to be held on the ______ day of ______, ______, 22 unless the general assembly shall designate another date, and each for 23 himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I am a 24 registered voter of the state of Missouri and ______ County (or City of 25 St. Louis); my registered voting address and the name of the city, town 26 or village in which I live are correctly written after my name. 27 (Official Ballot title) ______ 28 CIRCULATOR'S AFFIDAVIT 29 State Of Missouri, 30 County Of ______ 31 I, ______, being first duly sworn, say (print or type names of signers) 32 REGISTERED 33 DATE VOTING ZIP CONGR. 34 NAME SIGNED ADDRESS CODE DIST. NAME 35 (Signature) (Street) (City, (Printed or 36 Town or Village) Typed) 37 (Here follow numbered lines for signers) 38 signed this page of the foregoing petition, and each of them signed his 39 or her name thereto in my presence; I believe that each has stated his or 40 her name, registered voting address and city, town or village correctly, 41 and that each signer is a registered voter of the state of Missouri and __ 42 ____ County. FURTHERMORE, I HEREBY SWEAR OR AFFIRM 43 UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY THAT ALL STATEMENTS 44 MADE BY ME ARE TRUE AND CORRECT AND THAT I HAVE 45 NEVER BEEN CONVICTED OF, FOUND GUILTY OF, OR PLED 46 GUILTY TO ANY OFFENSE INVOLVING FORGERY. 47 I have met the qualifications of section 116.080 and am at least 18 48 years of age. I do ______ do not ______ (check one) expect to be paid 49 for circulating this petition. If paid, list the payer ______ HB 2124 3
50 _______________ 51 Signature of Affiant 52 (Person obtaining signatures) 53 _______________ 54 (Printed Name of Affiant) 55 _______________ 56 Address of Affiant 57 Subscribed and sworn to before me this ______ day of ______, A.D. _ 58 _____ 59 _______________ 60 Signature of Notary 61 Address of Notary 62 Notary Public (Seal) 63 My commission expires ______ 64 65 If this form is followed substantially and the requirements of [section] sections 116.045, 66 116.050, and [section] 116.080 are met, it shall be sufficient, disregarding clerical and merely 67 technical errors. 116.040. The following shall be substantially the form of each page of each petition 2 for any law or amendment to the Constitution of the state of Missouri proposed by the 3 initiative: 4 County ______ 5 (Optional) Page No. ______ 6 It is a class A misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions 7 of section [560.021] 558.002, RSMo, to the contrary, for a term of 8 imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail or a fine not to 9 exceed ten thousand dollars or both, for anyone to sign any initiative 10 petition with any name other than his or her own, or knowingly to sign 11 his or her name more than once for the same measure for the same 12 election, or to sign a petition when such person knows he or she is not a 13 registered voter. 14 INITIATIVE PETITION 15 To the Honorable ______, Secretary of State for the state of Missouri: 16 We, the undersigned, registered voters of the state of Missouri and ___ 17 ___ County (or City of St. Louis), respectfully order that the following 18 proposed law (or amendment to the constitution) shall be submitted to HB 2124 4
19 the voters of the state of Missouri, for their approval or rejection, at the 20 general election to be held on the ______ day of ______, ______, and 21 each for himself or herself says: I have personally signed this petition; I 22 am a registered voter of the state of Missouri and ______ County (or 23 City of St. Louis); my registered voting address and the name of the 24 city, town or village in which I live are correctly written after my name. 25 (Official Ballot title) ______ 26 CIRCULATOR'S AFFIDAVIT 27 State Of Missouri, 28 County Of ______ 29 I, ______, being first duly sworn, say (print or type names of signers) 30 REGISTERED 31 DATE VOTING ZIP CONGR. 32 NAME SIGNED ADDRESS CODE DIST. NAME 33 (Signature) (Street) (City, (Printed or 34 Town or 35 Village) Typed) 36 (Here follow numbered lines for signers) 37 signed this page of the foregoing petition, and each of them signed his 38 or her name thereto in my presence; I believe that each has stated his or 39 her name, registered voting address and city, town or village correctly, 40 and that each signer is a registered voter of the state of Missouri and __ 41 ____ County. 42 FURTHERMORE, I HEREBY SWEAR OR AFFIRM UNDER 43 PENALTY OF PERJURY THAT ALL STATEMENTS MADE BY ME 44 ARE TRUE AND CORRECT AND THAT I HAVE NEVER BEEN 45 CONVICTED OF, FOUND GUILTY OF, OR PLED GUILTY TO 46 ANY OFFENSE INVOLVING FORGERY. 47 I have met the qualifications of section 116.080 and am at least 18 48 years of age. I do ______ do not ______ (check one) expect to be paid 49 for circulating this petition. If paid, list the payer ______ 50 _______________ 51 Signature of Affiant 52 (Person obtaining signatures) 53 _______________ 54 (Printed Name of Affiant) HB 2124 5
55 _______________ 56 Address of Affiant 57 Subscribed and sworn to before me this ______ day of ______, A.D. _ 58 _____ 59 _______________ 60 Signature of Notary 61 Address of Notary 62 Notary Public (Seal) 63 My commission expires ______ 64 65 If this form is followed substantially and the requirements of [section] sections 116.045, 66 116.050, and [section] 116.080 are met, it shall be sufficient, disregarding clerical and merely 67 technical errors. 116.045. Initiative petition and referendum petition signature pages shall be 2 printed on a form as prescribed by the secretary of state that shall include all of the 3 information and statements required by section 116.030 or 116.040, as applicable, and 4 comply with section 116.050. The form shall be made available in electronic format to 5 be used for printing petitions for circulating. 116.050. 1. Initiative and referendum petitions filed under the provisions of this 2 chapter shall consist of pages of a uniform size. Each page, excluding the text of the measure, 3 shall be no larger than eight and one-half by fourteen inches. The text of the proposed 4 measure shall be in a font that is not smaller than twelve-point Times New Roman and 5 have a top, bottom, left, and right margin of not less than one inch. Page numbers may 6 appear in the bottom margin. Each page of an initiative petition shall be attached to or shall 7 contain a full and correct text of the proposed measure. Each page of a referendum petition 8 shall be attached to or shall contain a full and correct text of the measure on which the 9 referendum is sought. 10 2. The full and correct text of all initiative and referendum petition measures shall: 11 (1) Contain all matter which is to be deleted included in its proper place enclosed in 12 brackets and all new matter shown underlined; 13 (2) Include all sections of existing law or of the constitution which would be repealed 14 by the measure; and 15 (3) Otherwise conform to the provisions of [Article III, Section 28 and] Article III, 16 [Section] Sections 28, 49, 50, 51, and 52(a) of the Constitution of Missouri and those of this 17 chapter. HB 2124 6
116.080. 1. Each petition circulator shall be a citizen of the United States, [at least] 2 eighteen years of age or older, a resident of this state or physically present in this state for 3 at least thirty consecutive days prior to the collection of signatures, and registered with 4 the secretary of state. No petition circulator shall be paid anything of value that is based 5 on the number of signatures collected. Signatures collected by any circulator who has not 6 registered with the secretary of state pursuant to this chapter on or before 5:00 p.m. on the 7 final day for filing petitions with the secretary of state shall not be counted. A petition 8 circulator shall be deemed registered at the time such circulator delivers a signed circulator's 9 affidavit pursuant to section 116.030, with respect to a referendum petition, or section 10 116.040, with respect to an initiative petition, to the office of the secretary of state. No person 11 shall qualify as a petition circulator who has been convicted of, found guilty of, or pled guilty 12 to an offense involving forgery under the laws of this state or an offense under the laws of any 13 other jurisdiction if that offense would be considered forgery under the laws of this state. 14 2. Each petition circulator shall subscribe and swear to the proper affidavit on each 15 petition page such circulator submits before a notary public commissioned in Missouri. 16 When notarizing a circulator's signature, a notary public shall sign his or her official signature 17 and affix his or her official seal to the affidavit only if the circulator personally appears before 18 the notary and subscribes and swears to the affidavit in his or her presence. 19 3. Any circulator who falsely swears to a circulator's affidavit knowing it to be false is 20 guilty of a class A misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions of section 21 [560.021] 558.002 to the contrary, for a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year in the 22 county jail or a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars or both. 116.090. 1. Any person who commits any of the following actions is guilty of the 2 crime of petition signature fraud: 3 (1) Signs any name other than his or her own to any petition, or who knowingly signs 4 his or her name more than once for the same measure for the same election, or who knows he 5 or she is not at the time of signing or circulating the same a Missouri registered voter and a 6 resident of this state; [or] 7 (2) Intentionally submits petition signature sheets with the knowledge that the person 8 whose name appears on the signature sheet did not actually sign the petition; [or] 9 (3) Causes a voter to sign a petition other than the one the voter intended to sign; [or] 10 (4) Forges or falsifies signatures; or 11 (5) Knowingly accepts or offers money or anything of value to another person in 12 exchange for a signature on a petition. 13 2. Any person who knowingly causes a petition circulator's signatures to be submitted 14 for counting, and who either knows that such circulator has violated subsection 1 of this 15 section or, after receiving notice of facts indicating that such person may have violated HB 2124 7
16 subsection 1 of this section, causes the signatures to be submitted with reckless indifference 17 as to whether such circulator has complied with subsection 1 of this section, shall also be 18 deemed to have committed the crime of petition signature fraud. 19 3. A person who violates subsection 1 or 2 of this section, shall, upon conviction 20 thereof, be guilty of a class A misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions of 21 section [560.021] 558.002 to the contrary, by a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year 22 in the county jail or a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars or both. 23 4. Any person employed by or serving as an election authority, that has reasonable 24 cause to suspect a person has committed petition signature fraud, shall immediately report or 25 cause a report to be made to the appropriate prosecuting authorities. Failure to so report or 26 cause a report to be made shall be a class A misdemeanor. 116.110. Any voter who has signed an initiative or referendum petition may withdraw 2 his or her signature from that petition by submitting to the secretary of state, before the 3 petition is filed with the secretary of state, a sworn statement requesting that his or her 4 signature be withdrawn and affirming the name of the petition signed, the name the voter used 5 when signing the petition, the address of the voter and the county of residence. It is a class A 6 misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions of section [560.021] 558.002 to the 7 contrary, for a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail or a fine not to 8 exceed ten thousand dollars or both, to knowingly file a false withdrawal statement with the 9 secretary of state. 116.130. 1. The secretary of state may send copies of petition pages to election 2 authorities to verify that the persons whose names are listed as signers to the petition are 3 registered voters. Such verification may either be of each signature or by random sampling as 4 provided in section 116.120, as the secretary shall direct. If copies of the petition pages are 5 sent to an election authority for verification, such copies shall be sent pursuant to the 6 following schedule: 7 (1) Copies of all pages from not less than one petition shall be received in the office 8 of the election authority not later than two weeks after the petition is filed in the office of the 9 secretary of state; 10 (2) Copies of all pages of a total of three petitions shall be received in the office of the 11 election authority not later than three weeks after the petition is filed in the office of the 12 secretary of state; 13 (3) If more than three petitions are filed, all copies of petition pages, including those 14 petitions selected for verification by random sample pursuant to section 116.120, shall be 15 received in the office of the election authority not later than the fourth week after the petition 16 is filed in the office of the secretary of state. 17 HB 2124 8
18 Each election authority shall check the signatures against voter registration records in the 19 election authority's jurisdiction, but the election authority shall count as valid only the 20 signatures of persons registered as voters in the county named in the circulator's affidavit. 21 Signatures shall not be counted as valid if they have been struck through or crossed out. 22 Signatures shall be recorded using a black or dark ink. 23 2. If the election authority is requested to verify the petition by random sampling, 24 such verification shall be completed and certified not later than thirty days from the date that 25 the election authority receives the petition from the secretary of state. If the election authority 26 is to ver