THE PROPOSED STATUTE
Be it enacted by the people of the State of Missouri as follows:
Section A. Two new sections to be known as sections 116.023 and 116.085 are enacted and existing Section 116.190 is amended, to read as follows:
EXPLANATION: The existing section 116.190 is set forth hereinafter with the new matter underlined and deleted matter in brackets, [thus].
116.023. 1. Sections 116.023, 116.085 and 116.190 shall be known and may be cited as the “The Petition Rights Protection Act”.
2. Whereas Article III, Section 49 of the Missouri Constitution says, “The people reserve power to propose and enact or reject laws and amendments to the constitution by the initiative, independent of the general assembly, and also reserve power to approve or reject by referendum any act of the general assembly, except as hereinafter provided.”: Therefore, those reserved powers of the people shall be inviolate.
3. (1) Mistakes, errors, and omissions by other parties, including but not limited to petition circulators, petition proponents and others involved in the the signature gathering and petition filing process, as well as government officials, shall not invalidate the signature of a duly qualified voter of the state of Missouri so long as that voter's intent is reasonably clear.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary:
(a) For purposes of filing a petition, pages within a petition are independent of and severable from all other such pages and no page which is individually in conformity with the standards set forth in this chapter shall be considered insufficient.
(b) Any properly registered voter's signature found to be invalid due to placement on the wrong county petition page or found to be invalid because it was collected by a petition circulator found to be not properly registered shall be considered valid if such voter or the proponent of the petition provides proof of authenticity of the signer's signature within 30 days of the issuance of the certificate of sufficiency or insufficiency by the secretary of state.
116.085 1. A person commits the crime of intentional misrepresentation of a petition if the person knowingly and fraudulently gathers signatures for a petition under this chapter.
(1) As used in this subsection, "fraudulently gathers signatures" includes:
(a) Causes a voter to sign a petition other than the one the voter intended to sign;
(b) Forges or falsifies signatures.
(2) Notwithstanding provisions of section 560.016 to the contrary, intentional misrepresentation of a petition is a misdemeanor punishable by a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail, or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars, or both such imprisonment and fine.
2. A person commits the crime of malicious obstruction of the signing of a petition if the person maliciously intimidates, obstructs, or otherwise prevents a voter from signing a petition under this chapter, or if the person attempts to intimidate, obstruct, or otherwise prevent a voter from signing a petition under this chapter.
(1) Notwithstanding provisions of section 560.016 to the contrary, malicious obstruction of the signing of a petition is a misdemeanor punishable by a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail, or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars, or both such imprisonment and fine.
(2) No reasonable effort to inform or educate a potential signer of a petition shall be construed to be malicious obstruction of the signing of a petition under this section.
116.190. 1. Any citizen who wishes to challenge the official ballot title or the fiscal note prepared for a proposed constitutional amendment submitted by the general assembly, by initiative petition, or by constitutional convention, or for a statutory initiative or referendum measure, may bring an action in the circuit court of Cole County. The action [must] shallbe brought within ten days after the official ballot title is certified by the secretary of state in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Changes to the official ballot title resulting from actions brought later than ten days after the official ballot title is certified by the secretary of state shall have no effect on the validity of signatures collected on petition sheets that contain the original official ballot title.
2. The secretary of state shall be named as a party defendant in any action challenging the official ballot title prepared by the secretary of state. When the action challenges the fiscal note or the fiscal note summary prepared by the auditor, the state auditor shall also be named as a party defendant. If the challenged ballot title is from an initiative or referendum, and a party other than the proponent of the measure initiates the challenge, the proponent shall receive copies of all communications and court documents relating to the challenge as if the proponent were a party defendant, and shall be allowed to intervene in the case. The president pro tem of the senate, the speaker of the house and the sponsor of the measure and the secretary of state shall be the named party defendants in any action challenging the official summary statement, fiscal note or fiscal note summary prepared pursuant to section 116.155.
3. The petition shall state the reason or reasons why the summary statement portion of the official ballot title is insufficient or unfair and shall request a different summary statement portion of the official ballot title. Alternatively, the petition shall state the reasons why the fiscal note or the fiscal note summary portion of the official ballot title is insufficient or unfair and shall request a different fiscal note or fiscal note summary portion of the official ballot title.
4. The action shall be placed at the top of the civil docket. Insofar as the action challenges the summary statement portion of the official ballot title, the court shall consider the petition, hear arguments, and in its decision certify the summary statement portion of the official ballot title to the secretary of state within fifty-five days of the original certification by the secretary of state. Insofar as the action challenges the fiscal note or the fiscal note summary portion of the official ballot title, the court shall consider the petition, hear arguments, and in its decision, either certify the fiscal note or the fiscal note summary portion of the official ballot title to the secretary of state or remand the fiscal note or the fiscal note summary to the auditor for preparation of a new fiscal note or fiscal note summary pursuant to the procedures set forth in section 116.175 ] within fifty-five days of the original certification by the secretary of state. Any party to the suit may appeal to the supreme court] within ten days after a circuit court decision. The court of appeals shall render a decision within thirty days of the filing of such appeal. Any party to the suit may appeal to the supreme court within ten days of the appeals court's decision. The supreme court shall render a decision within thirty days of the filing of such appeal. In making the legal notice to election authorities under section 116.240, and for the purposes of section 116.180, the secretary of state shall certify the language [which] certified bythe court [certifies] to [him] the secretary of state within twenty-four hours.