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Amend the amendment by inserting after section 4 the following:
‘Sec. 5.  21-A MRSA §903-D  is enacted to read:
§ 903-D. Organization opposed to direct initiative and people's veto petition required to be registered
An organization opposed to a petition shall register with the Secretary of State in accordance with this section. For the purposes of this section, "organization opposed to a petition" means a business entity that receives compensation for organizing, supervising or managing the opposition of petitions for a direct initiative of legislation or a people's veto referendum.
 
1.  Registration.   Prior to organizing, supervising or managing the opposition of petitions for a direct initiative of legislation or a people's veto referendum, an organization opposed to a petition, in addition to meeting any other requirement to transact business in this State, shall register with the Secretary of State on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State. The registration form must include the following:
 
A.  The ballot question or title of each direct initiative of legislation or people's veto referendum for which the organization opposed to a petition will receive compensation;
 
B.  Contact information for the organization opposed to a petition, including the name of the organization opposed to a petition, street address or post office box, telephone number and e-mail address; and
 
C.  The name and signature of a designated agent for the organization opposed to a petition.
 
The information contained in the registration must be made available for public inspection and must be posted on the publicly accessible website of the Secretary of State.
Sec. 6. 21-A MRSA §904, sub-§4, as repealed and replaced by PL 2007, c. 455, §53, is amended to read:
 
4. Duplicate signature. Knowingly signs the person's name more than once on initiative or referendum petitions for the same measure; or
Sec. 7. 21-A MRSA §904, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 455, §53, is amended to read:
 
5. False swearing; signature made in circulator's presence. Circulates an initiative or referendum petition and willfully swears that a signature to the petition was made in the circulator's presence when it was not.; or
Sec. 8.  21-A MRSA §904, sub-§6  is enacted to read:
 
6.  Interfere with free passage.  Interferes with the free passage of circulators of petitions or members of the public signing initiatives or referendum petitions.’
Amend the amendment by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter or section number to read consecutively.
 
SUMMARY
This amendment does the following.
1. It provides that a person commits a Class E crime if that person interferes with the free passage of circulators of petitions or members of the public signing initiatives or referendum petitions.
2. It imposes on organizations that are opposed to a petition registration requirements that are modeled on those imposed on petition organizations.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)