Bill Text: NJ ACR213 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Proposes constitutional amendment to provide for direct initiative and referendum process for bills and joint resolutions vetoed by Governor.
Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-10-27 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [ACR213 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-ACR213-Introduced.html
ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 213
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
217th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED OCTOBER 27, 2016
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOHN S. WISNIEWSKI
District 19 (Middlesex)
Assemblyman MICHAEL PATRICK CARROLL
District 25 (Morris and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
Proposes constitutional amendment to provide for direct initiative and referendum process for bills and joint resolutions vetoed by Governor.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Concurrent Resolution proposing to amend Article I, paragraph 2 and Article II of the New Jersey Constitution.
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):
1. The following proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey is hereby agreed to:
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
a. Amend Article I, paragraph 2, to read as follows:
2. a. All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have the right at all times to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it.
b. The people reserve unto themselves the power to recall, after at least one year of service, any elected official in this State or representing this State in the United States Congress. The Legislature shall enact laws to provide for such recall elections. Any such laws shall include a provision that a recall election shall be held upon petition of at least [25%] 25 percent of the registered voters in the electoral district of the official sought to be recalled. If legislation to implement this constitutional amendment is not enacted within one year of the adoption of the amendment, the Secretary of State shall, by regulation, implement the constitutional amendment, except that regulations adopted by the Secretary of State shall be superseded by any subsequent legislation consistent with this constitutional amendment governing recall elections. The sufficiency of any statement of reasons or grounds procedurally required shall be a political rather than a judicial question.
c. The people reserve unto themselves the power of direct initiative and referendum to propose for adoption or rejection by the voters at a general election any bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor. This subparagraph shall apply: (1) when the Governor returns a bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution to the house of origin with a statement of objections or a statement of each item of appropriation to which the Governor objects; and (2) after a vote to override the veto has failed. This subparagraph shall also apply when legislation is passed by the Legislature within 10 days before the expiration of the second year of a legislative session and the Governor fails to sign or veto the legislation.
(cf: Art. I, para. 2, amended effective January 1, 1994)
b. Amend the Title of Article II and insert new Section III, paragraph 1 to read as follows:
ARTICLE II
ELECTIONS [AND], SUFFRAGE, AND
DIRECT INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM IN CERTAIN CASES
SECTION III
1. (a) An initiative or referendum petition proposing as a law any bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, shall be submitted to the voters of the State if the petition is signed by the number of registered voters that equals at least 10 percent of the votes cast at the general election for Governor next preceding certification of the petition for circulation, as shall be provided by law.
(b) Before an initiative or referendum petition proposing as law any bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, is submitted to the voters at a general election, petitioners shall file the petition with the Secretary of State not less than 130 days before the next general election at which the proposal is to be submitted to the voters. The Secretary of State shall within 30 days after that filing determine and certify whether the petition includes the number of signatures of registered voters as required under subparagraph (a) of this paragraph. The Secretary of State may use such random sampling techniques, meeting ordinary professional standards of statistical reliability, as the Legislature may provide by law or, in the absence of such provision, as the Secretary of State shall find to be effective and convenient. If, on or before the 30th day following the filing, the Secretary of State determines that the number of signatures so required to be included on the petition have not been obtained, that petition shall be deemed void and without effect. Otherwise, the petition shall be deemed certified, and each public question shall be eligible for submission to the voters at the next general election.
A petition that is not filed with the Secretary of State as required under subparagraph (b) of this paragraph within such period following the certification thereof for circulation as may be established by law but not less than one year shall be void and without effect.
(d) If, at a general election, a bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, is not approved, neither the vetoed bill, appropriation of money, or joint resolution, nor a public question concerning the vetoed bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution that was the subject of the petition, nor one to effect the same or substantially the same change, shall be proposed to the voters before the third general election thereafter.
(e) Prior to the submission to the voters of a bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, a party may seek a declaratory judgment of the Supreme Court that the vetoed bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution, or the substance thereof, would be invalid under the Constitution or laws of the United States if the pleading requesting such judgment is filed with the Supreme Court not later than 15 days following the certification of the petition for circulation. Any such action shall be heard and decided, and appropriate relief granted, with all due expedition, but in no case later than 30 days following that submission.
No bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, submitted to the people and approved thereby shall be held unconstitutional or void if the number of signatures on the petitions have been certified by the Secretary of State as required under subparagraph (b) of this paragraph.
(f) A bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, that is proposed by petition shall begin in the following style: "Be it enacted by the People of the State of New Jersey".
(g) The Secretary of State shall cause a bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, that is to be submitted to the people to be published at least once in one or more newspapers of each county, if any newspaper be published therein, not less than 90 days prior to that submission to the people.
(h) No bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, that is approved by the people shall be thereafter subject to the veto power of the Governor.
(i) The filing of a petition that has as its basis a bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor, or the substance thereof, shall in no way affect the effective date or the implementation of the bill, or appropriation of money, or joint resolution once it becomes law.
(j) The direct initiative and referendum procedure provided for in Article I, paragraph 2 of the Constitution, and in this section, shall not be used to propose or ratify amendments to this Constitution.
2. When this proposed amendment to the Constitution is finally agreed to pursuant to Article IX, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, it shall be submitted to the people at the next general election occurring more than three months after the final agreement and shall be published at least once in at least one newspaper of each county designated by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the General Assembly, and the Secretary of State, not less than three months prior to the general election.
3. This proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be submitted to the people at that election in the following manner and form:
There shall be printed on each official ballot to be used at the general election, the following:
a. In every municipality in which voting machines are not used, a legend which shall immediately precede the question as follows:
If you favor the proposition printed below make a cross (X), plus (+), or check (a) in the square opposite the word "Yes." If you are opposed thereto make a cross (X), plus (+) or check (a) in the square opposite the word "No."
b. In
every municipality the following question:
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CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO ESTABLISH INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM FOR VOTER APPROVAL OF LEGISLATION VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR
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YES |
Do you approve amending the Constitution to allow people to propose to the voters a public question on certain legislation that was vetoed by the Governor? If the voters approve the public question the legislation would become law. |
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INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT |
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NO
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This amendment to the Constitution allows the people to propose, and vote to adopt as law, any bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution vetoed by the Governor. A bill or joint resolution may only be proposed by the people if a vote has been taken to override the Governor's veto and has failed. If approved by the voters at a general election, such a proposal would become law. The process for placing a proposal on the ballot requires a petition signed by voters. It also includes a deadline for submitting the petition to the Secretary of State and for publishing the proposal in newspapers before the election. After a petition is certified by the Secretary of State any person may ask the New Jersey Supreme Court if a proposal is invalid under the United States Constitution or federal law. If a proposal is not approved by the voters, it cannot be submitted to the voters again for at least three years. The Governor could not veto a proposal approved by the voters. Also, the process could not be used to propose or ratify amendments to the Constitution.
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SCHEDULE
This constitutional amendment shall, if approved, take effect on the January 1 after the year it was approved by the voters at a general election and shall apply to any bill, including an appropriation of money, or a joint resolution vetoed by the Governor thereafter.
STATEMENT
This concurrent resolution proposes to amend the State Constitution to provide the people of New Jersey with the power of direct initiative and referendum to propose as law any bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution that has been vetoed by the Governor. The process provided by this resolution may be used when the Governor returns a bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution to the house of origin with a statement of objections or a statement of each item of appropriation to which the Governor objects, and after a vote to override the veto has failed. The process may also be used when legislation is passed by the Legislature within 10 days before the expiration of the second year of a legislative session and the Governor fails to sign or veto the legislation.
To place the proposal on the ballot requires petitions that contain voter signatures that number at least 10 percent of the votes cast at the general election for governor next preceding certification of the petition for circulation. A limit on the time allowed for collecting the required number of signatures may be established by law, but the limitation cannot be less than one year.
Before a petition can be submitted to the voters at a general election, it is to be filed with the Secretary of State not less than 130 days before the election. The Secretary of State will have 30 days to determine whether the petition was signed by a sufficient number of registered voters. The Secretary of State is authorized to make a determination on the basis of a sample of the signatures, chosen in accordance with appropriate random sampling techniques. If, on or before the 30th day after the filing, the Secretary of State determines that a sufficient number of signatures have not been obtained, the petition is deemed void and without effect. Otherwise, the petition is deemed certified and the proposal is eligible for submission to the voters at the next general election.
The constitutional amendment provides that prior to the submission to the voters of a proposal, any party may seek a ruling from the New Jersey Supreme Court that the proposal would be invalid under the Constitution or laws of the United States.
The Secretary of State would have the proposal published at least once in one or more newspapers of each county, if any newspaper is published therein, not less than 90 days prior to that submission to the people.
If a proposal is not approved, then that bill, including an appropriation of money, or joint resolution, or one to effect the same or substantially the same change, may not be submitted to the people for approval or rejection before the third general election thereafter.
The constitutional amendment provides that a proposal approved by the people is not subject to the veto power of the Governor. The amendment also provided that the process established by this resolution cannot be used to propose or ratify amendments to the Constitution.
The Constitution gives the Governor four types of veto power over legislation passed by the Legislature. An "absolute veto" allows the Governor to reject outright a bill or joint resolution. A "conditional veto" allows the Governor to propose changes to a bill or joint resolution. A "line item veto" allows the Governor to reduce an appropriation of money in a bill. A "pocket veto" allows the Governor to neither sign nor veto legislation before the end of the second year of a legislative session, and as a result the legislation dies.
