MADAM PRESIDENT:
I move
that Senate Bill 18 be amended to read as follows:
petition;
(C) after the signatures have been collected, the carrier
must swear or affirm before a notary public that the
carrier witnessed each signature; and
(D) govern the closing date for the petition period.
Persons requesting forms may be required to identify
themselves as owners of real property or registered voters and
may be allowed to pick up additional copies to distribute to
other property owners or registered voters. Each person
signing a petition must indicate whether the person is signing
the petition as a registered voter within the political
subdivision or is signing the petition as the owner of real
property within the political subdivision. A person who signs
a petition as a registered voter must indicate the address at
which the person is registered to vote. A person who signs a
petition as a real property owner must indicate the address of
the real property owned by the person in the political
subdivision.
(6) Each petition must be verified under oath by at least one
(1) qualified petitioner in a manner prescribed by the state
board of accounts before the petition is filed with the county
voter registration office under subdivision (7).
(7) Each petition must be filed with the county voter
registration office not more than thirty (30) days after
publication under subdivision (2) of the notice of the
preliminary determination.
(8) The county voter registration office shall determine
whether each person who signed the petition is a registered
voter. The county voter registration office shall not more than
fifteen (15) business days after receiving a petition forward a
copy of the petition to the county auditor. Not more than ten
(10) business days after receiving the copy of the petition, the
county auditor shall provide to the county voter registration
office a statement verifying:
(A) whether a person who signed the petition as a
registered voter but is not a registered voter, as
determined by the county voter registration office, is the
owner of real property in the political subdivision; and
(B) whether a person who signed the petition as an owner
of real property within the political subdivision does in fact
own real property within the political subdivision.
(9) The county voter registration office shall not more than
ten (10) business days after receiving the statement from the
county auditor under subdivision (8) make the final
determination of the number of petitioners that are registered
voters in the political subdivision and, based on the statement
provided by the county auditor, the number of petitioners that
own real property within the political subdivision. Whenever
the name of an individual who signs a petition form as a
registered voter contains a minor variation from the name of
the registered voter as set forth in the records of the county
voter registration office, the signature is presumed to be valid,
and there is a presumption that the individual is entitled to
sign the petition under this section. Except as otherwise
provided in this chapter, in determining whether an
individual is a registered voter, the county voter registration
office shall apply the requirements and procedures used
under IC 3 to determine whether a person is a registered
voter for purposes of voting in an election governed by IC 3.
However, an individual is not required to comply with the
provisions concerning providing proof of identification to be
considered a registered voter for purposes of this chapter. A
person is entitled to sign a petition only one (1) time in a
particular petition and remonstrance process under this
chapter, regardless of whether the person owns more than one
(1) parcel of real property within the subdivision and
regardless of whether the person is both a registered voter in
the political subdivision and the owner of real property within
the political subdivision. Notwithstanding any other provision
of this section, if a petition is presented to the county voter
registration office within thirty-five (35) days before an
election, the county voter registration office may defer acting
on the petition, and the time requirements under this section
for action by the county voter registration office do not begin
to run until five (5) days after the date of the election.
(10) The county voter registration office must file a certificate
and each petition with:
(A) the township trustee, if the political subdivision is a
township, who shall present the petition or petitions to the
township board; or
(B) the body that has the authority to authorize the
issuance of the bonds or the execution of a lease, if the
political subdivision is not a township;
within thirty-five (35) business days of the filing of the petition
requesting a petition and remonstrance process. The
certificate must state the number of petitioners that are
owners of real property within the political subdivision and
the number of petitioners who are registered voters residing
within the political subdivision.
(11) If a sufficient petition requesting local public question
process is not filed by owners of real property or registered
voters as set forth in this section, the political subdivision may
issue bonds or enter into a lease by following the provisions of
law relating to the bonds to be issued or lease to be entered
into.".
Page 25, line 12, delete "A" and insert " If a sufficient petition
requesting the application of the local public question process has
been filed as set forth in section 3.5 of this chapter, a".
(Reference is to SB 18 as printed January 11, 2008.)