Present law authorizes registered voters in Madison County to remove a local board of education member not in a local education agency, that is elected or appointed to fill a vacancy. This bill removes such authority and, instead, authorizes a member of a municipal legislative body or a city or county school board ("public officer") to be recalled from office by the qualified electors entitled to vote in the district from which the officer was elected for (i) physical or mental lack of fitness, (ii) incompetence, (iii) a violation of the oath of office, (iv) official misconduct, (v) lack of confidence, (vi) malfeasance, (vii) neglect of duty, (viii) voter dissatisfaction, or (ix) conviction of a felony offense. However, this bill prohibits recalling a person for performing a mandatory duty of the office that the person holds or for not performing an act that, if performed would subject the person to prosecution for official misconduct. The recall process established under this bill is cumulative and additional to other methods for removal of public officers, not a substitute. RECALL PETITION Present law authorizes a person who resides within the geographic boundaries of the local board of education district of which a local board of education member is sought to be removed, to file a petition with the county election commission that demands the recall of the local board of education member. The petition must be signed by registered voters who reside within the geographic boundaries of the local board of education district of which the local board of education member is sought to be removed equal in number to at least 66% of the total vote cast for that member in the last regular election. Each person signing the petition must sign the person's name, provide the date of signing, and provide the signer's place of residence by street and number or by other customary designation. The petition must contain a general statement of the grounds upon which the removal is sought. This bill removes all of these provisions. This bill prohibits (i) naming more than one public officer to be recalled, in a recall petition; (ii) a recall petition against a public officer from being approved for circulation until a public officer has held office for at least two months; and (iii) a recall petition from being filed against a public officer for whom a recall election has been held for a period of two years during the officer's term of office unless the political subdivision financing the recall election is first reimbursed for all expenses of the preceding recall election. This bill authorizes a person who is a qualified elector of a district in this state from which a public officer is elected to sign a petition for recall of the public officer. Recall petitions for public officers must contain the signatures of qualified electors equaling at least 20% of the number of persons registered to vote at the preceding general election in the district for which the public officer was elected. This bill creates a Class C misdemeanor offense for a person who (i) knowingly signs a name other than the person's own to a petition, (ii) knowingly signs a petition more than once for the recall, (iii) signs the petition knowing that the person is not at the time of the signing a qualified elector, or (iv) knowingly makes a false entry upon an affidavit required in connection with the filing of a petition for the recall of a nonpartisan public officer. Present law generally provides that a Class C misdemeanor is punishable by a sentence not greater than 30 days or a fine not to exceed $50, or both. This bill requires recall petitions for public officers to be filed with the county election commission that serves the district in which the public officer serves and the secretary of state. If the county election commission or secretary of state refuses to accept and file a petition for recall with the proper number of signatures of qualified electors, then an elector may, within 10 days after such refusal, apply to the district court for a writ of mandamus. However, if the petition is deemed sufficient, the district court must order the petition to be filed with a certified copy of the writ attached thereto, as of the date when it was originally offered for filing. After any filed petition is found insufficient, the court may stop certification of the recall election. All suits or appeals therefrom must be advanced on the court docket and heard and decided by the court as expeditiously as possible. An aggrieved party may file an appeal within 10 days after an adverse order or decision as provided by law. RECALL PETITION FORM This bill provides a prescribed form for recall petitions. Although such prescribed form is not mandatory, if it is substantially followed, then the petition is sufficient. A petition form submitted must be accompanied by a written statement containing the reasons for the desired recall as stated on the petition. The truth of purported facts contained in the statement must be sworn to by at least one of the petitioners before a person authorized to administer oaths. The county election commission and the secretary of state must serially number all approved petitions continuously from year to year. RECALL PETITION SIGNATURES This bill requires the signatures on each petition to be placed on sheets of paper known as circulation sheets. Each circulation sheet must be substantially eight and one half by 14 inches, or a continuous sheet may be folded so as to meet this size limitation. The circulation sheets must be ruled with a horizontal line one and one-half inches from the top of the sheet. The space above the line must remain blank and must be for the purpose of binding. This bill authorizes the petition, for purposes of circulation, to be divided into sections, with each section containing no more than 25 circulation sheets. Before a petition may be circulated for signatures, a sample circulation sheet must be submitted to the appropriate county election commission and the secretary of state in the form in which it will be circulated. The commission and the secretary of state must review the petition for sufficiency as to form and approve or reject the form of the petition, stating the reasons for rejection, within one week of receiving the sheet. CIRCULATION AFFIDAVIT Present law requires a recall petition to include a sworn affidavit by the petition circulator stating the number of petition signers, that each petition signature is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and that the signatures were made in the presence of the affiant. Within 15 days of receipt of the petition, the county election commission must determine the sufficiency of the petition signatures. The county election commission must attach a certificate to the petition with the results. If the county election commission determines the petition signatures are sufficient, then, within seven days of such determination, the county election commission must give notice of the filed petition by publication in a newspaper of general circulation and must provide the grounds upon which removal of a local board of education member is sought. However, if the signatures are determined insufficient, then the person who filed the petition may amend the petition within 10 days from the date of the certificate and file the amended petition with the county election commission. Within 15 days of receipt of an amended petition, the county election commission must make a sufficiency determination. If the amended petition is still deemed insufficient or if no amended petition is filed, then the county election commission must attach a certificate to the petition and return the petition to the person who filed the petition. If an amended petition is deemed sufficient, then the county election commission must provide notice as required by subdivision law. This bill removes these provisions. This bill requires signed circulation sheets or sections of a petition for recall to be submitted to the county election commission in the county in which the signatures were obtained and to the secretary of state within three months of the date the form of the petition was approved under present law. A prescribed form for such an affidavit is provided in the bill. An affidavit, in substantially the same form, must be attached to each circulation sheet or section submitted under this bill. CERTIFICATION OF RECALL PETITION This bill requires the county election commission in each county in which a recall petition is signed to verify and compare the signatures of each person who has signed the petition to ensure that the person is an elector in that county and, if satisfied that the signatures are genuine, to certify that fact to the secretary of state, in substantially the same form as prescribed in this bill. The certificate is prima facie evidence of the facts stated in the certificate, and the secretary of state or county election commission receiving the recall petition may consider and count only the signatures that are certified. Upon certification of a petition, this bill requires the secretary of state to immediately give written notice to the public officer named in the petition. The notice must state that a recall petition has been filed and certified, must set forth the reasons contained in the petition, and must notify the public officer that the officer has the right to prepare and have printed on the ballot a statement containing not more than 200 words giving reasons why the officer should not be recalled. A statement of justification must not be printed on the ballot unless it is delivered to the secretary of state within 10 days of the date notice is given. RECALL ELECTION Present law requires a county election commission to call an election on the question of whether to recall a local board of education member if the county election commission determines that a petition is sufficient. The question must only be posed to voters who are represented by the local board of education member sought to be removed. The question on the ballot must ask whether the local board of education member should be recalled, and the voter must be provided the option to vote "for recall" or "against recall." If 66% or more of those voting vote "for recall," then the person named must be declared removed from office and the office must be declared vacant. A vacancy must be filled in accordance with present law. An election for the purpose of recall must not be held within a period beginning 90 days before and ending 90 days after a regular election. This bill removes these provisions. If a public officer named in the petition for recall submits a resignation in writing, this bill requires the resignation be accepted and become effective 72 hours after it is offered. The vacancy created by the resignation must be filled as provided by law and the public officer named in the petition for recall must not be appointed to fill the vacancy. However if the public officer named in the petition for recall refuses to resign or does not resign within five days after receiving notice of the certified petition, this bill requires an election to be held. If the recall petition was certified more than 60 days before a general or primary election, the recall election must be held at the same time as the general or primary election. If the recall petition was certified less than 60 days before a general or primary election, the recall election must be held at the next general election. The public notice of a recall election must be in substantially the same form as prescribed in this bill. This bill requires the ballot at a recall election to set forth the statement contained in the recall petition stating the reasons for demanding the recall of the public officer and the public officer's statement of reasons why the officer should not be recalled. The form of the ballot must be approved as provided in the election laws of this state. The question of whether the officer should be recalled must be placed on the ballot in a form similar to the prescribed form provided in this bill. This bill provides that expenses of a recall election must be paid in the same manner as the expenses for any other election. The expenditure of such funds constitutes an emergency expenditure of funds, and a political subdivision affected may fund the costs of such an election through emergency funding procedures. This bill provides the public officer named in the recall petition continues in office until the officer resigns or the results of the recall election are officially declared. If a majority of those voting on the question vote to remove the officer, the office becomes vacant and the vacancy must be filled as provided by law. However, the public officer recalled must not be appointed to fill the vacancy.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-2-213