An Act To Prohibit Payment for the Gathering of Petition Signatures

Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §904-B,  as enacted by PL 1993, c. 599, §2, is amended to read:

§ 904-B. Payment for signature; prohibition

A circulator of an initiative or a referendum petition or a person who causes the circulation of an initiative or referendum petition may not pay or offer to pay any compensation to a person for the person's signature on the initiative or referendum petition.

An applicant for an initiative or a referendum petition pursuant to section 901 may not pay or offer to pay any compensation to circulators of petitions or any other person gathering or supplying signatures on the initiative or referendum petition.

summary

Current law prohibits the circulators or initiators of citizens’ initiative petitions or people's veto referendum petitions from paying compensation to a person for that person's signature. This bill additionally prohibits the organizers of petition drives from paying or offering to pay any compensation to petition circulators or any other person gathering or supplying signatures on the initiative or referendum petition.