• Legislative Document 1754: In Maine, a major contributor must file a major contributor report. A major contributor is defined as an organization that contributes $100,000 or more to a PAC or ballot measure committee to influence a ballot question outcome. One of the requirements is to report the five largest sources of funds received by the major contributor during the six months prior to making the first contribution. LD 1754 provided major contributors with the ability to ask for a waiver upon a sworn statement explaining the circumstances preventing a timely or complete report. Under LD 1754, The Maine Ethics Commission decides whether to grant a waiver or not.^[1]

• Legislative Document 1830: The legislation made changes to the state's election policies, including but not limited to ballot initiatives. LD 1830 provided that the Maine secretary of state must propose a ballot question for an indirect initiative after signatures are verified, rather than at the end of the legislative session. The bill also provided procedures that a voter can use to challenge the ballot question, starting the process in the Maine Superior Court, which must issue an opinion no later than 60 days before the election, with an option to further appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which must issue an opinion no later than 50 days before the election. LD 1830 also provided that the fiscal impact statement for an initiative petition must be printed on the first page of a petition, rather than on each page.^[2]

We the People PAC et al. v. Bellows[edit]

See also: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, We the People PAC et al. v. Bellows, July 7, 2022

On July 7, 2022, the First Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined the state from enforcing a law requiring petition circulators to be registered voters, and, therefore, state residents. "[T]he burden on core political speech that the residency- and voter-registration requirements each imposes arises from the drastic limitation on the pool of out-of-state circulators that each inherently imposes," wrote the Court.^[1]

We the People PAC initiated the litigation. The PAC hired professional out-of-state petition circulators, along with in-state circulators, to collect signatures for the Citizen Requirement for Voting Initiative.

On February 16, 2021, Judge John Woodcock of the U.S. District Court for Maine enjoined the state from enforcing a law requiring petition circulators to be registered voters, and, therefore, state residents. Woodcock wrote that "the First Amendment’s free speech protections trump the state’s regulatory authority."^[2]

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows appealed the district court's ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Legislative Document 194 (Vetoed): The legislation would have prohibited contributions and expenditures to influence ballot measures from entities with 10% or more ownership by foreign governments. On June 23, 2021, Gov. Janet Mills (D) vetoed LB 194.^[1]

• Legislative Document 1485: The bill amended state law governing political action committees and ballot question committees. LD 1485 defined ballot question committee as a person or organization that receives or expends more than $5,000 to initiate a ballot measure or influence the outcome of a ballot measure.^[2]

• Legislative Document 1536: LD 1536 provided that municipal public hearings on local citizen-initiated ballot measures must "be held in a manner that solicits and allows for a discussion on the merits of the article."^[3]

We the People PAC et al. v. Bellows[edit]

See also: U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, We the People PAC et al. v. Bellows, July 7, 2022

On July 7, 2022, the First Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined the state from enforcing a law requiring petition circulators to be registered voters, and, therefore, state residents. "[T]he burden on core political speech that the residency- and voter-registration requirements each imposes arises from the drastic limitation on the pool of out-of-state circulators that each inherently imposes," wrote the Court.^[1]

We the People PAC initiated the litigation. The PAC hired professional out-of-state petition circulators, along with in-state circulators, to collect signatures for the Citizen Requirement for Voting Initiative.

On February 16, 2021, Judge John Woodcock of the U.S. District Court for Maine enjoined the state from enforcing a law requiring petition circulators to be registered voters, and, therefore, state residents. Woodcock wrote that "the First Amendment’s free speech protections trump the state’s regulatory authority."^[2]

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows appealed the district court's ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Legislative Document 53: The legislation required the use of letters of the alphabet instead of numbers to list municipal initiative and referendum questions on ballots.^[1]

• Legislative Document 499: The legislation required signature gatherers to provide certain personal information and proof of voter registration with the state and file an affidavit that says the circulator has an understanding of the initiative process. The legislation also required organizations or individuals paying circulators to provide a list of paid circulators and details on payment methods, including whether pay-per-signature is utilized.^[2]

• Legislative Document 534: The legislation provided that the secretary of state's office must write ballot questions "as simply as is possible," provide explanations of the effects of "yes" and "no" votes, and eliminated the rule that required a "yes" vote on a veto referendum to mean repealing the targeted legislation.^[3]

• Legislative Document 1209: The legislation required that an indirect initiated state statute that received enough valid signatures to receive a public hearing before a joint standing committee of the Legislature or a special legislative committee of the Legislative Council.^[4]

• Legislative Document 1437 (Question 2): Voters approved the constitutional amendment on November 5, 2019. The constitutional amendment allowed for persons with physical disabilities that prevent them from signing their own names to use an alternative signature to sign petitions for citizen-initiated ballot measures.^[5]

• Legislative Document 1840: The legislation required a ballot question to form a joint charter commission to draft a consolidation agreement between municipalities after enough signatures are collected.^[1] Gov. Paul LePage (R) vetoed LD 1840 but the Legislature overrode his veto and enacted the bill.

• Legislative Document 1865: The legislation was designed to address ballot measure notaries and campaign finance, including:^[2]

• providing that notaries or other persons authorized to administer oaths or affirmations cannot administer an oath or affirmation to a petition circulator when that person is providing other services to the initiative campaign or to promote the initiative;
• requiring major contributors, defined as contributors who donate $100,000 or more, to file reports providing certain financial information, including the contributor's five largest sources of funds during the six months prior; and
• requiring major contributors to file reports containing information on each contribution within five days or, during the last 13 days before the election, within 24 hours.

See also: Laws governing ballot measures in Maine

a Maine Legislative Document 299 was designed to require the state treasurer's bond statement for bond issues to be printed on the ballot and as a separate document. Going into 2017, the state treasurer's bond statement was to be printed on the ballot or as a separate document.

a Maine Legislative Document 795 was designed to require the full text of a direct initiative to be printed on the ballot.

a Maine Legislative Document 1323 was designed to authorize "the secretary of state to invalidate a petition for a direct initiative or people's veto if the Secretary of State is unable to verify the notarization of that petition."

d Maine Legislative Document 715 was designed to amend direct initiative petition signature requirements from 10 percent of votes cast for governor in the most recent election to 15 percent of registered voters in each county. It was also designed to establish requirements for public debate on ballot measures.

d Maine Legislative Document 1271 was designed to amend the process for certifying direct initiatives and referendums.

d Maine Legislative Document 1035 was designed to require an opinion of the Supreme Judicial Court to be printed on a ballot containing a direct initiative.

d Maine Legislative Document 937 was designed to require a fiscal impact statement to be included on the ballot of a direct initiative.

Maine Legislative Document 31 was designed to propose an amendment to the state constitution to establish a distribution requirement for citizen initiatives.

• The requirement would dictate that signatures equal to 10 percent of votes cast for governor in each of Maine's two congressional districts be collected in order to qualify an initiative for the ballot.

d Maine Legislative Document 883 was designed to require initiative petition circulators to be paid a minimum of $25 per signature.

d Maine Legislative Document 796 was designed to amend the state constitution to implement a distribution requirement for signature gathering by requiring "the total number of signatures required for a direct initiative of legislation to be not less than 10% of the total vote for Governor cast in each county in the last gubernatorial election. It also requires each of the signatures from a county to be that of a person registered to vote in that county."

d Maine Legislative Document 212 was designed to propose an amendment to the state constitution to establish a distribution requirement for citizen initiatives.

• The requirement would dictate that signatures equal to 10 percent of votes cast for governor in each of Maine's 35 senatorial districts be collected in order to qualify an initiative for the ballot.

d Maine Legislative Document 5 was designed to propose an amendment to the state constitution to prevent citizen initiatives from being used to change state law about wildlife issues.

d Maine Legislative Document 564 was designed to propose an amendment to the state constitution to increase the signature requirement for initiatives by doing the following:

• change the basis of signature requirements for citizen initiatives from the number of votes cast for governor in the immediately preceding gubernatorial election to the number of votes cast in Maine for the presidential candidates in the immediately preceding presidential election.
• change the signature requirement for citizen initiatives from 10 percent to 15 percent of votes cast.

d Maine Legislative Document 53 was designed to propose an amendment to the state constitution to prohibit paying signature gatherers based on the number of signatures collected.

d Maine Legislative Document 1265 was designed to "allow the creation of a local option sales tax by referendum."

Note: All constitutional amendments approved by the legislature require voter approval before being enacted.

See also: Laws governing ballot measures in Maine

1. d Legislative Document 742: "Resolution, Proposing An Amendment To The Constitution Of Maine To Require That 5 Percent Of Signatures On A Direct initiative Of Legislation Come From Each County;" this bill was carried over from the 2015 legislative session.

See also: Laws governing ballot measures in Maine & Residency requirements for petition circulators

1. a Legislative Document 176: "An Act To Amend The Law Governing The Gathering Of Signatures For Direct initiatives And People's Veto Referenda." Specifically, LD 176 was designed to establish residency requirements for circulators and require paid circulators to register.
2. d Legislative Document 754: "An Act To Prohibit A Municipality From Holding A Referendum To Legalize The Recreational Use Of Marijuana"
3. d Legislative Document 1228: "An Act To Amend The Ballot Initiative Process To Ensure Support In Maine's Congressional Districts"
4. d Legislative Document 594: "An Act To Allow The Creation Of A Local Option Sales Tax By Referendum"
5. d Legislative Document 1148: "An Act To Implement A Local Ballot Referendum For Municipalities To Disallow Tax-Exempt Status To Large Land Trusts"
6. d Legislative Document 754: "Resolution, Proposing An Amendment To The Constitution Of Maine To Ensure That Laws Governing Hunting And Fishing Are Not Subject To The Citizen Petition Process"
7. d Legislative Document 837: "Resolution, Proposing An Amendment To The Constitution Of Maine To Limit The Application Of A Citizen Initiative Concerning Wildlife Matters To Counties In Which It Is Approved"
8. d Legislative Document 225: "This bill limits the collecting of signatures on petitions for the direct initiative of legislation or a people's veto referendum to persons who have been residents of the State for at least one year."
9. d Legislative Document 53: "This bill requires a majority vote of a corporation's shareholders before the corporation makes a political contribution or expenditure and requires that once the contribution or expenditure has been made, the corporation posts notice of the contribution or expenditure on its website. This bill disallows a corporation that has over half of its shares owned by one or more institutional investors who cannot hold public office, such as a pension fund or a for-profit or nonprofit corporation, from making any political contributions or expenditures. This bill also allows a shareholder who disagrees with a corporation's political contribution or expenditure to receive from the corporation upon request a rebate of a percentage of the political contribution or expenditure equal to the percentage of ownership the shareholder has in the corporation."^[1]
10. d Legislative Document 145: "This bill removes the duty of verifying and certifying petitions in direct initiatives of legislation and people's veto referenda from municipal clerks and registrars and instead requires the Secretary of State to verify and certify all petitions. The Secretary of State is also required [by this bill] to send a random sampling of 10% of the petitions back to the municipalities to review for accuracy for audit purposes. The bill also creates 3 positions in the Secretary of State's office to assist in the verification and certification process for petitions in direct initiatives and people's veto referenda."^[2]
11. Legislative Document 742: "Resolution, Proposing An Amendment To The Constitution Of Maine To Require That 5 Percent Of Signatures On A Direct initiative Of Legislation Come From Each County"

The following bills were introduced in the Maine State Legislature:

a LD 1299: Amends campaign finance laws by detailing laws regarding ballot measure committees, campaign finance provisions, campaign materials, electronic filing disclosure, etc.

The following bills were introduced in the Maine State Legislature:

d Maine Legislative Document 97: Excerpt of bill description/summary: "This resolution proposes to amend the Constitution of Maine to provide that the Legislature may not make a change to a measure initiated and approved by vote of the people for 8 years after that measure takes effect if that change is contrary to the general intent of that measure."

a Maine Legislative Document 1000 (2011): Excerpt of bill description/summary: "The bill...creates a resolve directing the Secretary of State to examine the feasibility of centralizing the process for verifying signatures on candidate petitions, citizens' initiatives and people's veto referendum petitions."

a Maine Legislative Document 1528 (2011): LD 1528 makes a number of changes to state election law. With respect to ballot measures, the bill would clarify "the requirements for the information that is created to help voters understand ballot questions, including the Attorney General's explanatory statement of what a 'yes' vote favors and what a 'no' vote opposes; the Office of Fiscal and Program Review's estimate of the fiscal impact on state revenues, appropriations and allocations of each ballot measure; and the Treasurer's Statement that accompanies each bond issue."^[1]

The following bills were introduced in the Maine Legislature:

a Maine Legislative Document 1730 (2010): LD 1730 requires petition forms to include a unique number identifying the petition circulator and requires petitions to be signed, notarized, and copied. In addition, the law requires that paid petition organizers must register with the state. The law also allows the state 100 days to make a final decision certifying or rejecting a petition, bringing state law in line with the Maine Constitution. Also, the law allows 10 days (instead of five) to challenge a decision and 40 days (instead of 45) for the Maine Supreme Court to rule on the challenge. In addition, the law also forbids de novo trials for petition challenges, bringing the law in line with a 1998 State Supreme Court ruling.^[1][2]

The bill was approved by the Maine House of Representatives on March 29, 2010 by a vote of 119 to 23. The Maine Senate later approved the bill on March 31, 2010 by a 20-15 vote. The Governor signed the bill into law on April 6, 2010^[3].

a Maine Legislative Document 1667 (2010): LD 1667 will resolve an inconsistency in Maine Law concerning the amount of time that the Maine Office of Fiscal and Program Review is given to prepare a fiscal impact statement for proposed initiatives. The bill also requires that fiscal impact statements for ballot initiative and sample ballots must be posted outside voting locations. In addition, the bill clarifies the qualifications that must be met by the registrar of voters and the positions a registrar may not seek or hold. The law also allows a warden, ward clerk and deputy wardens be registered voters of the county, rather than the municipality, in which they serve. This exception only applies when there is a vacancy in one of these positions and only last for the duration of the election. The bill also allows the public to inspect absentee ballot applications and envelopes prior to processing.^[4][2]

The bill was approved by the Maine House of Representatives on March 16, 2010 by acclimation. The Maine Senate on March 17, 2010, approved the bill by acclimation. The Governor signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010^[5].

a Maine Legislative Document 1668 (2010): LD 1668 was enacted. LD 1668 eliminates a previous requirement that the Maine Secretary of State must publish information about ballot questions in daily newspapers in the state.^[2]

The bill was approved by the Maine House of Representatives on January 14, 2010, by a vote of 107 to 35. The Maine Senate approved the bill on the same day by a voice vote. The bill was signed into law by the Governor on January 21, 2010^[6].

d LD 1345. LD 1345, which had been carried over from 2009, failed. LD 1345 would have amended the Maine Constitution to increase the number of signatures that a petitioner must gather for a people's veto or a direct initiative from not less than 10% of the total vote for Governor cast in the last gubernatorial election to not less than 20% of the total vote for Governor cast in the last gubernatorial election. It also would have limited the state's initiatives to one subject.

The bill died in committee without seeing a floor vote in either house of the Legislature^[7].

d LD 1690. LD 1690 failed. It would have:

• Required the Secretary of State to make electronic lists of certified signatures from petitions for direct initiatives of legislation and people's veto referenda beginning December 2010.
• Extended the time period that a person has to examine petitions when challenging the decision of the Secretary of State from 5 to 10 days.
• Authorized the Secretary of State to reject certification of signatures on a petition for a direct initiative of legislation or a people's veto if the person who signed the petition submitted a written request to the direct initiative or people's veto applicant 15 days prior to the date when the petitions are due to the municipal clerk for verification.
• Required registration of organizations that receive compensation to collect or support the collection of signatures on petitions for a direct initiative of legislation or people's veto referendum.

The bill died in committee without seeing a floor vote in either house of the Legislature^[8].

d LD 1692. LD 1692 failed. It would have:

• Amended the Maine Constitution to require that the ballot text of an initiative identify the amount and source of any revenue that would be required to implement the initiative, if the initiative is approved by voters.
• Identify, if applicable, any current programs whose funding would have to be reduced or eliminated if the initiative was approved.
• Directed the Office of Fiscal and Program Review to provide "reasonable assistance" to initiative sponsors in identifying revenue that will be required if the initiative is enacted.

The bill was defeated by the Maine House of Representatives on March 29, 2010, by a vote of 94 to 43^[9].