HB2606

Report Title:

Elections; Recall of legislators

Description:

Provides for the recall and removal of legislators.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2606
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to elections.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Chapter 11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"PART . RECALL AND REMOVAL

§11- Recall procedure. Any member of the legislature is subject to recall and removal from office by the voters of the district from which the legislator was elected. The procedure to effect such recall and removal shall be in accordance with this part.

§11- Petitions. (a) Recall shall be initiated by petition stating the reason for recall.

(b) A petition demanding recall of a legislator shall be signed by qualified voters equal to or greater than twenty-five per cent of the total number of persons who were registered in the legislator's district at the last general election held in the district. For the purposes of this part, "qualified voter" means a person who is registered to vote in the district on the day that the chief election officer of the state begins the examination to determine the sufficiency of the signatures on the petition.

(c) Petition papers shall be obtained from the chief election officer, who shall keep a sufficient number of blank petition papers on file for distribution as provided in this section. Prior to the issuance of the petition papers, an affidavit stating the name and office of the legislator sought to be removed shall be made by one or more voters and filed with the officer.

§11- Signatures. Signers of a recall petition shall print their names, their residence or mailing addresses, and their social security numbers; provide their signatures; and print the date of signing on the petition. To each petition paper shall be attached an affidavit of the person circulating the petition. The affidavit shall state:

(1) The number of signers to such part of the petition;

(2) That each signature appended to the paper was made in the circulator's presence and is believed to be the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be; and

(3) That each signer understood the nature of the recall petition.

§11- Filing and certification. (a) All papers comprising a recall petition shall be assembled and filed with the chief election officer as one instrument within thirty days after the filing with the officer of the affidavit stating the name and office of the legislator sought to be removed.

(b) Within thirty working days from the filing of the petition, the chief election officer shall determine if the petition contains sufficient signatures and prepare a certificate showing the result of the examination. If the officer certifies that the petition is insufficient, the officer shall set forth in the certificate the particular ways in which the petition is defective and shall return a copy of the certificate to the person designated in the petition to receive it.

§11- Supplemental petitions. If the initial petition contained insufficient signatures, the recall petition may be supported by the supplemental signatures of voters signed in the manner required in section 11- . The supplementary signatures shall be appended to petitions issued, signed, and filed as required for the original petition at any time within twenty days after the date of the certificate of insufficiency issued by the chief election officer. Within ten days after the supplemental petitions are filed, the officer shall make a like examination of them. If the examination shows that the petitions remain insufficient, the officer shall return them in the manner described in section 11- , and no new petition for the recall of the legislator sought to be removed shall be filed within one year.

§11- Recall elections. (a) If a recall or supplemental petition is certified by the chief election officer as sufficient, the officer shall immediately present the petition with the certificate to the legislature and shall notify the legislator sought to be recalled about the action.

(b) If the legislator whose removal is sought does not resign within ten days after such notice, the legislature shall order and fix a day for holding a recall election. Any such election shall be held not less than sixty days nor more than ninety days after the petition was presented to the legislature. If another special election is held within such a period, the legislature shall call the special recall election to be held at the same time.

(c) If less than fifty per cent of the total number of persons who were registered in the last general election held in the district vote in the recall election, the legislator sought to be recalled shall not be deemed recalled.

§11- Ballots. The ballots at the recall election shall, with respect to each legislator whose removal is sought, submit the question: "Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of (name of office) by recall?" If a majority of the voters qualified to vote on the question at the recall election vote "Yes," the legislator shall be deemed recalled and removed from office. If not recalled in the election, the incumbent legislator shall continue in office for the remainder of the unexpired term, subject to recall as before, except as otherwise provided by law.

§11- Succession. If recalled in the election, the incumbent shall be deemed removed from office upon the announcement of the official canvass of the election, and the office shall be filled in accordance with law for the filling of vacancies of legislators. The successor of the removed legislator shall hold office during the unexpired term of the person removed. No legislator who has been removed from office or who has resigned from office after a recall petition was presented to the legislature shall be eligible for election or appointment to any office of the state or its political subdivisions within two years after the person's removal or resignation.

§11- Immunity to recall. The question of the removal of any legislator shall not be submitted to the voters until the person has served six months of the term during which the legislator is sought to be recalled, or, in the case of a legislator retained in a recall election, until one year after the recall election."

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval and upon ratification of a constitutional amendment providing for the recall and removal of legislators.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________