Title
Amending Saint Paul City Charter Chapter 8.02 and 8.03 to clarify signature and petition requirements.
Body
WHEREAS, the Council wishes to clarify the number of signatures required for a petition that is submitted close to a mayoral election; and
WHEREAS, the Council also wishes to clarify the procedure for evaluating a petition; and
WHEREAS, the Charter Commission has recommended changes to Sections 8.02 and 8.03 of the Saint Paul City Charter in order to improve such clarity; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Saint Paul does hereby ordain:
Section 1
Section 8.02 of the Charter of the City of Saint Paul is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 8.02. - Petition.
Initiative, referendum or recall shall be initiated by a petition
(1) signed by registered voters of the city equal in number to eight (8) percent of those who voted for the office of mayor in the last preceding city election in the case of initiative or referendum, or
(2) signed by registered voters of the city equal in number to twenty (20) percent of those who voted for the office of mayor in the last preceding city election in the case of recall of the office of mayor, or
(3) signed by registered voters of the relevant council ward equal in number to twenty (20) percent of those who voted for the relevant office of councilmember in the last preceding city election or fifteen (15) percent of the registered voters in the relevant council ward, whichever number is greater.
The number of signatures required for an initiative petition submitted up to 30 days after a city election shall be determined using the required percentage of votes cast for mayor at either that election or the previous election for mayor, whichever had the fewer voters.
The number of signatures required for a referendum petition shall be determined as of the date on which the ordinance is published.
Section 2
Section 8.03 of the Charter of the City of Saint Paul is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 8.03. - Determination of sufficiency.
Any petition seeking initiative, referendum and recall hereunder shall be deemed received by the council when it is filed with the city clerk, for which filing there shall be no fee. Immediately upon receipt of the petition the city clerk shall examine the petition as to its sufficiently sufficiency and report to the council within twenty (20) calendar days, except that in the case of a recall petition it shall be thirty (30) calendar days. Upon receiving the report, the council shall determine by resolution the sufficiency of the petition.
On the day that a petition is submitted, the city clerk shall obtain a public list of registered voters from the statewide voter registration system. Using this list, the city clerk shall match the name, address and year of birth from the petition to the corresponding voter record for each person signing the petition. Any signature for which the city clerk cannot match this information must be rejected. The city clerk shall maintain a log of all rejected signatures, listing the page and line number of each rejected signature and the reason for the rejection. The voter registration list used for the examination of the petition and the log of rejected signatures must be made available for public inspection.
Section 3
This ordinance shall take effect and be in force ninety (90) days following its passage, approval and publication.