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![handle is hein.sag/sagme0010 and id is 1 raw text is: JAMESE. TIERNEY
ATTORNEY GENERAL
SPVAU0 F NIAINE
DEPARTMENT OF TIE ATrORNEY GENERAL
ALIG LISTA, MAINE 04333
January 7, 1982
Honorable Judy Kany
House of Representatives
State House
Augusta, Maine 04333
Re: Effect of Amendment to Me. Const., art. IV, pt. 3, S 18(2).
Dear Representative Kany:
You have posed three questions on the effect of the recent
amendment to Me. Const., art. IV, pt. 3, § 18(2). Constitutional
Resolutions of 1981, c. 1 added language to Section 18(2) requiring
that signatures on initiative petitions be no more than one year
old in order to be valid. You have asked what the effective date
of this provision is, whether it applies to signatures gathered
prior to the effective date and whether initiative petitions addressed
to the second session of the 110th Legislature may be submitted to
the Secretary of State before that session convenes.
The effective date of Chapter 1 is November 23, 1981, the day
when the Governor proclaimed that it had received a majority vote.
Although the Maine Constitution does not establish when amendments
will become effective, the matter is addressed in 1 M.R.S.A. S 351
which provides as follows:
Unless otherwise provided in the resolution sub-
mitting it, every constitutional amendment shall
take effect and become part of the Constitution,
on the first Wednesday of January following its
adoption by the people.
[Emphasis supplied].
The resolution which submitted the amendment in question contains an
effectiye date provision which reads as follows:
. . . [Ihf it appears that a majority of the legal
votes are in favor of the amendment, the Governor
shall proclaim that fact without delay and the
amendment shall become part of the Constitution on
the date of the proclamation .
Constitutional Resolutions of 1981, c.l.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagme0010&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)