An Act To Ban Payment-per-signature for Initiative and Referenda Petition Circulators

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 a circulator of petitions compensation based on the number of signatures gathered by the circulator.

summary

Current law prohibits a circulator of a citizens’ initiative petition or a people's veto referendum petition from paying compensation to a person for that person's signature. This bill prohibits an organizer of a petition drive from paying petition circulators based on the number of signatures gathered.