Matthew Dunlap Secretary of State Department of the Secretary of State Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions Julie L. Deputy Secretary of State October 19, 2015 Hon. Ricth A. Bennett 75 Bennett Lane Oxford, ME 04270 Dear Mr. Bennett: On September 23, 2015, this of?ce received your application for a citizen initiative petition. We forwarded it to the Of?ce of the Revisor of Statutes for review and assistance in bringing the proposed legislation into conformity with the drafting conventions used in the Maine Revised Statutes, pursuant to 21-A M.R.S. On October 9, 2015, we received a letter from you requesting three changes to the text of the legislation attached to your application. We asked the Revisor?s Office to address the revised proposal as well. Although a subsequent draft of the legislation technically starts a new lO-business day time period for review pursuant to 21-AA M.R.S. in response to your request, the Revisor?s Of?ce and our of?ce have endeavored to process the proposed changes as expeditiously as possible without taking the full time allotted for review. This initiative is unusual in that it encompasses two distinct and unrelated subject areas welfare reform and income tax rate reductions. In the legislative process, these would normally be submitted as two separate bills, which would be referred to two separate standing committees of the Legislature for review. Indeed, in the history of initiative and referendum process in Maine, we have not found another example of a direct initiative combining two such distinct and unrelated subjects. The Maine Constitution does not expressly restrict initiatives to a single subject, however, in contrast to many other states. Accordingly, even though we strongly encourage you to split this into two separate direct initiatives in order to assist the voters as well as the Legislature if it considers any competing measures, the Secretary of State does not have authority under the election laws to require you to do so. Maine?s election laws governing the drafting of ballot questions set forth very clear criteria for presenting initiatives to the voters when and if the legislation is referred to the voters for approval or disapproval. Pursuant to 2l-A M.R.S. 906(6), the Secretary is required to ?advise petitioners that the proper suggested format for an initiative question is a separate question for each issue.? The considerations involved in determining whether an initiative presents more than one issue include whether: 10] State House Station, Augusta, Maine 04333-0101 mew.Matne.gov/sos/cec; tel. 207-624-7736 l) A voter would reasonably have different opinions on the different issues; 2) Having more than one question would help voters to better understand the subject matter; and 3) The questions are severable and can be enacted or rejected separately without negating the intent of the petitioners. Under these criteria, there should be two separate questions for your proposed initiative: one for the welfare bene?ts?related proposals, which amend various provisions of Title 22, and one for the individual income tax rate reductions and related income tax provisions in Titles 5, 30-A and 36. For this reason, the sections of the initiated legislation have been re?organized into a Part A and a Part that would correspond to each question presented to the voters. This will enable the Revisor?s Of?ce to accurately codify the law resulting from a statewide vote on each question. The process of drafting questions and proposing them for comment does not occur until after adj ournrnent of the legislative session at which petitioners present the initiated legislation if petitioners ?rst collect enough valid signatures and if the Legislature does not enact the legislation as proposed without change. 21-A M.R.S. 901(4) and 905-A. The petitioners and any other interested parties or members of the public would have a full opportunity to review and comment on the Secretary?s draft ballot questions at that time. Attached is the draft legislation prepared with the assistance of the Office of the Revisor of Statutes. The initiated bill will be entitled ?An Act to Amend the Laws Governing Welfare, to Lower the Individual Income Tax Rate to 4 Percent and to Dedicate Funds to Further Reduce the Income Tax antiZ It Is Eliminated.? The proposed legislation has been edited to bring it into conformity with the drafting conventions used in the Maine Revised Statutes while endeavoring to retain the full substance of your proposal. Here are speci?c comments explaining the changes that have been made or are recommended: 1. As noted above, the sections of the initiated bill have been divided into two separate parts: Part A contains the bene?ts-related provisions, and Part contains the income tax-related provisions; 2. In the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 3762, subsection 20, reference is made to both applicants for and recipients of TANF assistance in connection with the denial of assistance based on a drug test. The wording of subsection 20 has been changed to include consistently both applicants and recipients; 3. In Title 22, section 3762, subsection 20, the phrase ?pursuant to this subsection? was added at the end of paragraph N, subparagraphs (2) and 4. In Title 22, section 3762, subsection 21, the subsection headnote is changed to re?ect the content of the subsection; 5. In Title 22, section 3763, subsection 12, paragraph G, the cross-reference to the de?nition of ?travel agent? is corrected and in paragraph H, the cross-reference to the de?nition of ?money transmission? is made more speci?c with the addition of a reference to subsection 10; 6. Title 22, section 3785 is repealed and replaced; 7. In Title 22, section 3785, ?rst paragraph, the phrase ?good cause? is retained to be consistent with the use of this phrase later in the same paragraph; 8. The unallocated language presented as change #3 in your revised proposal of October 9 has been added as a new section at the end of Part A with a proposed headnote, and the phrase ?Sections 3 through 28? has been replaced with a reference to ?this Part?. The word ?shall? has been changed to ?must?, the phrase ?the Maine Revised Statutes? has been added before ?Title 5? and the words ?The? and ?Section? have been changed to lower case. We note that it is unclear who would determine the amount of savings, if any, from the statutory changes proposed in Part A, or how this determination would be made. 9. In Title 5, section 1518-A, subsection l-A, paragraph A (as presented in your revised proposal of October 9), the word ?rates? in the existing statute is retained. The word ?subsections? is also retained. It appears that a cross-reference to subsection 3-H was omitted in your revised proposal, so it has been inserted and the subsections listed in numerical order to read: l-G, 1-l, 2-G, 2-H, 2-I, 3-G, 3-H, 3vI and 6. In the ?rst portion of the second sentence, the ?rst occurrence of the word ?reductions? has been retained. The word ?rates? in paragraphs and has also been retained. 10. It is unclear what effect the language of Title 36, section 5111, subsection 7 in your October 9 proposal would have, as it is not apparent to whom or how this language applies. Is it an attempt to bind future legislatures by specifying that the rates set forth in section 5111 may not be exceeded? If so, that would not be enforceable. If you meant something else, it is not clear. In any event, your proposed language is included in this revised draft with the following technical corrections: the enacting clause encompasses both subsections 6 and the word ?Tax? in the headnote and the word ?Taxable? in the text have been changed to lower-case; the word ?shall? has been changed to ?may?; and the word ?the? before ?each tax year? has been removed. Please review the draft legislation and advise me in writing if you accept it as presented or if there are additional changes you wish to make. Once this office receives written consent to the ?nal language of the proposed law, the Office of Fiscal and Program Review must prepare an estimate of the fiscal impact of the legislation within 15 business days. The ?scal statement will be printed as part of the petition form that will be provided to you for circulation. You may reach me by telephone at 624-7650, by fax at 287-5428 or by email at Melissa.packard@maine.gov. - Sincerely, . E, ZMWW WMM Melissa K. Packard Director of Elections Enclosure cc: Hon. Eric Brakey, Alexander Willette, Jason Savage, Paula Sutton, Rebecca Telega