This legislation was created by the group Lower Case D out of New York. This legislation could be redrafted for any city to empower and expand the right of Initiative.
LOCAL LAW
To amend the New York city charter, in relation to expanding use of the right of initiative.
Be
it enacted by the people of the city of New York pursuant to the
authority provided in Section 37 of the Municipal Home Rule Law as
follows:
Section
1. The New York city charter is hereby amended as follows, with new
text to be added to the charter in italics, text to be removed struck
through, and any other text, whether included for context, alluded to
with ellipsis, or not appearing here, left intact. If at the time of
inclusion in the charter the section or chapter numbers used here
already exist, the next unused number shall be used, except that, if
appropriate, the new chapter may be combined with an existing or
simultaneously adopted chapter:
§
21. The Council. There shall be a council which shall be the
legislative body of the city. In addition to the other powers vested in
it by this charter and other law, the council shall be vested with the
legislative power of the city,
which it shall share with the people, who reserve to themselves the
right to propose local laws and to enact or reject the same at the polls
in accordance with section sixty-four of this charter and state law.
Any enumeration of powers in this charter shall not be held to limit
the legislative power of the council, except as specifically provided in
this charter.
§
38. Local laws; referendum. A local law shall be submitted for the
approval of the electors at the next general election held not less than
sixty days after the council’s adoption
thereof, and shall become operative as prescribed therein only when
approved at such election by the affirmative vote of a majority of the
qualified electors of the city voting upon the proposition, if it:
…
§ 38.17. Repeals or amends this section or any of the following sections of this charter; sections forty, sixty-four, …
§
39. Reconsideration. At any time prior to the election at which a
local law is to be submitted to the electors for approval pursuant to
this charter, unless such local law is an initiative placed on the ballot pursuant to section 64(a)(1), the
council, not later than fifteen days prior to the election, may
reconsider its action thereon and repeal such local law without
submission to the mayor, whereupon the proposition for its approval
shall not be submitted at such election, or if submitted the vote of the
electors thereon shall be without effect.
§
41. Submission of local laws or amendments. A proposition for the
submission of a local law or an amendment to this charter for the
approval of the electors pursuant to this charter shall contain the
title of such local law or a brief statement of the subject of such
amendment. The city clerk with the advice of the corporation counsel
shall prepare an abstract of such local law or amendment concisely
stating the title or subject and the purpose and effect thereof in clear
language and
forthwith shall transmit such proposition and such abstract to the
election officers charged with the duty of publishing the notice of and
furnishing the supplies for such election, but
if such proposition was placed on the ballot by a petition of electors
or its equivalent pursuant to §64(a)(1), the language, if any, provided
by the public advocate pursuant to this charter shall be used as
permissible. If the petition does not contain such language certified
by the public advocate, the clerk’s abstract shall first be emailed and
transmitted by certified mail to the filer of the petition. If there is
more than one proposition on the same subject, the abstract shall
describe the differences between them. A
sufficient number of copies of such abstract shall be printed, in such
manner that the abstract shall appear with the question to appear on the
ballot in bold type and separately from the text of the proposition,
and shall be delivered with the other election supplies and distributed
to the electors at the time of the registration of voters and at the
election. If there be more than one such proposition to be voted upon at
such election, each such proposition shall be separately, consecutively
and consistently numbered on the ballot and on the abstract. In case of
a conflict between two local laws or two amendments adopted at the same
election, the one receiving the largest affirmative vote shall control.
CHAPTER 3
THE RIGHT OF INITIATIVE
§64. Right of initiative. a. Any local law proposed by a qualified city elector shall be placed on the ballot at the next general election if either:
1.
A petition setting forth the proposed local law in full and meeting the
applicable requirements of subsection (b) of this section is both filed
with the city clerk and qualifies for ballot placement under subsection
(c) of this section.
2. Or it qualifies in another manner provided by law.
b.
General content and filing requirements for local laws proposed for
submission to the city’s electors at a general election pursuant to this
subsection.
1.
Format. Such local law shall set forth new matter to be added to the
administrative code either in italics or underlined and the matter to be
deleted therefrom either in brackets or with lines drawn through it,
and after adoption the matter so set forth in italics or underlined may
be set forth in the administrative code in ordinary type, and the matter
in brackets or with lines through it may be omitted; but failure so to
set forth any provision of the administrative code which is in fact
superseded shall not invalidate the new or amended local law or any
portion thereof.
2.
If the proposed local law amends, repeals or supersedes any local law
inconsistent with it or any inconsistent provision of a state statute
which may be amended by local law, it shall specify the chapter number
and year of enactment, sections, subsections or other parts of each
statute or local law so affected.
3.
The proposed local law must: (i) be general, applying throughout the
whole city or throughout specified portions thereof, (ii) be constructed
to apply in the same way in all parts of the city affected by it,
regardless of how any individual part votes in its adoption, and
(iii) encompass no more than one subject and matters properly connected
therewith. No such proposed law in order to be placed on the ballot
under §64(a)(1) may require amendment of this charter, be patently
unconstitutional or nonsensical, or include alternative or additional
provisions that would be enacted or change its effect depending on the
percentage of votes cast in its favor.
4. Fiscal
plan requirement. Any such proposed local law explicitly or
necessarily requiring either the expenditure of additional money by the
city or the elimination, capping, or reduction of any existing or future
revenues of the city must include, as a part of such proposal, a plan
to provide monies, revenues, or savings sufficient to meet such proposed
expenditures or compensate for such loss of revenue. If the measure is
placed on the ballot, the sufficiency of the plan shall be evaluated in
the financial impact statement required in §64(d).
5.
Such petition, as well as the draft petition described in part 6 below,
may be made on paper, in which case signatures to each sheet shall be
signed and authenticated in the manner provided by the election law for
the signing and authentication of nominating petitions so far as
applicable, or may be made using any other form permitted by applicable
law for the qualification of ballot proposals. If made on paper, a
petition may be made on multiple sheets, and circulated using multiple
copies, but when the signature sheets are bound together in one or more
volumes with the full text of the proposal they shall be considered one
petition, provided that at the time of its signing by petitioners every
signature sheet shall be labeled with the above provided proposal’s
title or brief description, alphanumeric identifier, and any other
language required by law, and be attached to and make reference to a
copy of the proposal’s above provided summary and its full text. The
public advocate shall promulgate guidelines for the requirements of form
for petitions filed under this section.
6.
A. Prior to its circulation for signatures for ballot placement, a
draft of each petition to be filed under §64(a)(1) shall first be
submitted to the public advocate for certification.
B.
If the draft petition is accompanied by any filing fee set by the
public advocate, not to exceed one hundred dollars and to be waived or
deferred with proof of indigence, and contains at least 250 signatures
of qualified city electors, which the public advocate shall certify his
or her determination of to the person submitting the draft petition
(“the drafter”) within 7 days of such draft petition’s submission, then
the public advocate shall within 14 days of said submission provide to
the drafter and publish, both in the City Record and on the public
advocate’s website or a site easily accessible from it, a certified
petition form. Such certified petition form shall include an
alphanumeric identifier unique to the proposal, an appropriate title or
brief description, a full summary of the proposal clearly describing its
purpose and effect, and the proposal’s full text, all but the last of
which the public advocate with the advice of the corporation counsel may
provide or have altered from their draft versions to ensure the
petition’s accuracy and clarity. In addition the public advocate may
provide and publish with the above an advisory opinion of any changes to
the proposal’s text necessary to make its ballot placement permissible
under applicable law, or if such draft proposal is fundamentally in
conflict with applicable law, the public advocate may provide an
explanation of the conflict. Independent of any such advisory opinion,
such certified petition or its equivalent may be circulated or it may be
amended and resubmitted with new signatures as a draft for
certification.
C.
If any objection to the public advocate’s certified petition form,
received by the public advocate’s office within 28 days after or any
time prior to such certification’s publication in the City Record, is
not satisfactorily addressed by the public advocate within ten days of
such written objection’s reception by his or her office, the supreme
court may determine any question arising thereunder and make such order
as justice may require.
D.
Any person, group, or committee circulating a petition intended to be
filed under this section, unless using an alternative form specifically
designated by applicable law for the qualification of ballot proposals
which makes a running total of its signatures publicly available, shall,
whenever the total number of petition signatures in its possession
increases by more than one thousand, provide to the office of the public
advocate within seven days a tally of how many total signatures it has
gathered. Failure to provide such tally within seven days of the date of
the thousandth signature gathered since the last reported tally if any,
shall result in an additional filing fee to be set by the public
advocate for every signature not timely reported. Every such updated
tally shall be published with its date online alongside the information
required to be published by paragraph (B) of this part.
7.
Such petition must contain the valid signatures of no less than twice
the number of qualified electors required for a designating petition for
a candidate for citywide office.
8.
For the purposes of this section, an elector shall be deemed qualified
if he or she is registered to vote in the city by city’s board of
elections. Each valid signature on a petition filed under §64(a)(1) of
this charter shall remain valid for the purposes of filing for a period
of no less than two years, provided the signer remains a qualified
elector and does not void his or her signature.
9. The
city clerk shall determine a petition’s sufficiency and compliance with
this section and other applicable law within 21 days of its filing with
his or her office. The clerk shall promptly transmit his or her
certificate that the petition complies or does not comply with all the
requirements of law to both the council and the person by whom the
petition was filed and, if the clerk certifies that the petition does
not comply, shall state in such certificate specifically in what
respects it fails to comply. If the clerk certifies that there is an
insufficient number of valid signatures, the clerk shall make available
to the legislative body a statement as to the number of signatures found
to be invalid and the reasons for such invalidity, and shall make the
same information available to the person by whom the petition was filed
and make it, together with the petition and his or her notations of
rulings thereon or relative thereto, a matter of public record in his or
her office using such protocol as is necessary to ensure both their
security from tampering and the ability of the petition’s filer and his
or her agents to easily access them. A finding by the city clerk that a
petition does not comply with all the requirements of law may be
contested in a proceeding in the supreme court.
10.
Council Review. Whether or not the city clerk finds the petition
sufficient, the clerk shall transmit such proposed local law forthwith
to the council. If the proposed local law is such that a mandatory
referendum is not required, the council may adopt it as its own act. If a
mandatory referendum is required, the council may submit it to the
electors of the city at the next general election occurring at least
sixty days after the council votes to submit it.
11.
If, however, such a petition (i) has not been thus withdrawn pursuant
to §64(b)(12), (ii) meets all the requirements of law, and (iii) during a
period of two months immediately following the filing thereof the
council shall fail so to adopt such local law without change or to
submit it without change to the electors of the city as aforesaid, then
the law proposed in the petition shall be placed on the ballot at a
general election occurring at least four months after the petition’s
filing with the office of the city clerk, provided it qualifies under
part (c).
12.
Until 61 days before the election at which its proposed measure would
otherwise appear on the ballot, the filer of a petition may withdraw
such petition, provided such withdrawal request shall be verified by the
clerk and accompanied by the consenting and authenticated signatures of
the filer and no less than twenty signers of the original petition,
using the same petition format as the original petition being withdrawn.
c.
If more than seven initiative petitions would qualify for ballot
placement at a general election under part (b) above, only the seven
with the highest number of valid signatures made at least four months
prior to the election shall appear on the ballot in addition to those
proposals whose ballot placement is not governed by this section but is
instead governed by section 38 of this charter or by other law, except
that if the subject matter of a proposal made under part a(1) of this
section makes its ballot placement a violation of state law concerning
questions to appear on the ballot when charter revisions are being
considered, such state law shall govern. The city clerk shall give
public notice of which measures are to appear on the ballot pursuant to
this section 60 days before the election, or, if such day is a public
holiday, on the next non-holiday. For no less than 90 days after the
determination of their ballot status, all valid petitions submitted but
kept off the ballot pursuant to this paragraph shall be kept available
for reclamation by their filers in their original format for possible
reuse of signatures for the next general election where permissible.
d.
For each initiative proposal to appear on the ballot, the independent
budget office shall prepare and, no later than 36 days before the
election, provide to the campaign finance board for inclusion in the
voter guide and any other media deemed appropriate by the board: a
fiscal impact statement, as described in part (b) of section 33, and
including, if the initiative has qualified pursuant to part (a)(1) of
this section, the evaluation required by §64(b)(4).
e.
Any political committee organized for the purpose of supporting or
opposing any local law submitted to the voters under the provisions of
this section shall have the same rights as a political party to name
watchers and challengers to serve at the election at which the question is submitted.
f.
Adoption and enactment. Subject to the last sentence of section 41 of
this charter, any measure receiving the affirmative vote of a majority
of the qualified electors of the city voting upon the proposition shall
thereby be adopted. Such measure shall become operative as prescribed
therein or 45 days after the election at which the measure was adopted
if the measure does not specify, except that if it was placed on the
ballot under §64(a)1, (i) no such local law which explicitly or
necessarily requires the expenditure of additional money or loss of
existing revenue shall become effective with respect to such expenditure
or loss before the beginning of the first fiscal year for which a city
budget is prepared and adopted after the election at which the measure
was adopted, and (ii) no such local law may violate the state or federal
constitution or laws, or this charter. Nothing in this section shall be
construed to limit the council’s ability to amend or repeal a measure
adopted via initiative not dealing with matters subject to mandatory
referendum.
§ 260. Powers and duties (of the independent budget office).
… f. The director shall, for each qualifying initiative, prepare a fiscal impact statement pursuant to §64(d).
§ 1052. Campaign finance board. a.
…
15.
For the purposes of this section, “candidate” or “candidates” shall
include to the extent logically and legally permissible any campaign or
political committee advocating for the passage or rejection of any
proposals or referenda at any city election, and to the full extent
permissible by law, and contingent on paragraph 16 of part (a) of this
section, the board’s mandate shall include such proponents and opponents
of proposed ballot measures.
16.
If they are not met by normal budgetary procedures or other means
either described elsewhere in this section or provided for otherwise,
costs associated with the inclusion of ballot proposals in the board’s
mandate shall only be incurred and paid for to the extent a fund, which
the board shall establish and which shall consist entirely of voluntary
contributions, any interest earned, and any other funds provided,
contains the necessary monies.
§ 1053. Voters guide. Each voters guide published by the board shall contain:
… and
(e) where there is a ballot proposal or referendum, concise statements
explaining such proposal or referendum and an abstract of each such
proposal or referendum,
and (f) in case of ballot proposals placed on the ballot in accordance
with section 64(a)1 of this charter: a summary of the fiscal impact
statement therein required; summaries of arguments for and against the
proposal submitted to the board no later than 36 days before the
election; and the URL of a web page, either moderated by the board or
certified by the board to represent an accurate resource, which shall
include the full text of the proposed law, an updated listing of all
organizations and elected officials there endorsing or opposing the
measure, and access to all public information about all related campaign
contributions. The guide shall be prepared in plain language ...
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