HB 1635-FN-LOCAL – AS INTRODUCED
2006 SESSION
06/03
HOUSE BILL 1635-FN-LOCAL
AN ACT relative to direct recall elections.
SPONSORS: Rep. Mulholland, Graf 10
This bill provides a procedure for the direct recall of municipal and school district officials.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
06-2626
06/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT relative to direct recall elections.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Chapter; Recall Elections. Amend RSA by inserting after chapter 671 the following new chapter:
CHAPTER 671-A
RECALL ELECTIONS FOR ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS
671-A:1 Cumulative Effect. The method provided under this chapter for the recall of public officials elected in this state or appointed to a vacancy in an elective office, including, but not limited to, elected town and city officers; elected village district officers; and elected school district and cooperative school district officials, shall not be exclusive but shall be in addition to any other method of removal provided for directly or indirectly in other law.
671-A:2 Grounds for Recall. Public officers elected in this state or appointed to a vacancy in an elective office, including, but not limited to, elected town and city officers, elected village district officers, and elected school district and cooperative school district officials shall be subject to recall from such offices. The basis or bases for recall shall be stated in the petition. No elected public officer or officer appointed to a vacancy in an elective office may be recalled for performing a mandatory duty of the office or for not performing any act that, if performed, would subject the officer to prosecution for official misconduct.
671-A:3 Qualification to Petition. Every person who is a qualified voter as provided in RSA 654 may sign a petition for recall of a public official listed in RSA 671-A:2, but may only sign a petition for the recall of a public official who is elected from the particular electoral district in which the person resides. Any person knowingly signing any name other than the person's own to any petition or knowingly signing more than once for the recall or who is not at the time of the signing a qualified voter is guilty of unsworn falsification under RSA 641:3 or tampering with public records or information under RSA 641:7, as appropriate.
671-A:4 Limitations on Recall Petitions.
I. A recall petition shall not name and shall not demand the recall of more than one elected public official.
II. No recall petition shall be filed against an elected public official until the official has held office for at least 6 months.
III. No recall petition shall be filed against an elected public official for whom a recall election has been held previously during the current term of office.
671-A:5 Number of Voters Required.
I. Recall petitions for elected city, town, and village district officials shall contain the signatures of qualified voters equaling at least 15 percent of the number of persons who were registered and qualified to vote at the last preceding general election in the official's electoral district for any candidate who ran for the office held by the public official subject to a petition for recall.
II. Recall petitions for elected officials of school districts shall contain the signatures of qualified voters equaling at least 15 percent of the number of persons who were registered and qualified to vote in the official's school district at the last preceding regular school district election for any candidate who ran for the office held by the public official subject to a petition for recall.
III. Recall petitions for elected officials of cooperative school districts shall contain the signatures of qualified voters equaling at least 15 percent of the number of persons who were registered and qualified to vote in each preexisting district comprising the official's cooperative school district at the last preceding regular cooperative school district election for any candidate who ran for the office held by the public official subject to a petition for recall.
671-A:6 Filing of Recall Petitions.
I. No application for a recall petition shall be filed during the first 180 days or during the last 180 days of the term of office of any elected public official subject to recall under this chapter. Recall petitions shall be filed with the appropriate election superintendent as provided in paragraph II.
II. Recall petitions for elected city, town, village district, school district, or cooperative school district officials shall be filed with the city, town, village district, or school district clerk, except that petitions for the recall of the town or school district clerk shall be filed with the selectmen, petitions for the recall of the city clerk shall be filed with the city council or board of aldermen, and petitions for the recall of the village district clerk shall be filed with the village district commissioners.
III. If the appropriate election superintendent with whom a recall petition is filed under paragraph II refuses to accept the petition for recall with the proper number of signatures of qualified voters, any voter may within 10 days after such refusal apply to the superior court for a writ of mandamus. If it is determined that the petition is sufficient, the superior court shall order the petition to be filed with a certified copy of the writ attached to it, as of the date when it was originally offered for filing. On a showing that any filed petition is not sufficient, the court may enjoin certification of the petition under RSA 671-A:8, printing of the ballot under RSA 671-A:13, or holding the recall election.
IV. All such suits or appeals under this section shall be advanced on the court docket and heard and decided by the court as expeditiously as possible.
V. Any aggrieved party may file an appeal to the supreme court within 10 days after any adverse order or decision.
671-A:7 Form of Recall Petition.
I. The form of the recall petition shall be substantially as follows:
WARNING
A person who knowingly signs a name other than the person's own to this petition or who knowingly signs more than once upon a petition to recall the same elected city, town, village district, school district, or cooperative school district official at one election, or who is not, at the time of signing this petition, a registered and qualified voter of the town, village district, school district, or cooperative school electoral district of ........................... served by the elected official who is the subject of the recall petition and entitled to vote, if the official is recalled, for the successor of the elected, city, town, village district, school district, or cooperative school district official to be recalled is guilty of unsworn falsification or tampering with public records or information.
RECALL PETITION
To the Honorable…................, (Name of election superintendent) of......................:
We, the undersigned qualified voters of .............................
respectively petition that an election be held as provided by law on the question of whether............................, holding the office of......................, should be recalled for the following reasons: (Setting out a general statement of the reasons for recall in not more than 200 words). By signature, each signer certifies: I have personally signed this petition and I am a qualified voter of ......................
and my residence and post office address are correctly written after my name to the best of my knowledge and belief:
Name (Print) Date of Signing Residence Address County of Residence
....................... ........................... ............................. ...........................
(Signature)
..................................
(Printed Name of Signer) (City or Town).
II. Numbered lines shall follow the headings prescribed in paragraph I. Each numbered line shall contain spaces for the signature, post office address, county of residence, date of signing, and printed first and last name of the signer. Each separate sheet of the petition shall contain the heading and reasons for the proposed recall as prescribed in paragraph I.
III. The form prescribed in this section shall not be mandatory, and, if substantially followed, the petition shall be sufficient, notwithstanding mere clerical or technical errors.
671-A:8 Signature Verification. The appropriate election superintendent shall compare the signatures on the petition with the signatures in the records of the supervisors of the checklist. If signatures equal to at least the required percentage of the persons qualified to vote in the electoral district as provided in the appropriate paragraph of RSA 671-A:5 are verified as genuine, a special recall election shall be called and shall be held no sooner than 12 days and no later than 3 weeks after the signatures are verified and certified under this section.
671-A:9 Call for Recall Election.
I. A recall election shall be called by:
(a) The chief executive officer of the municipality, if for an elected municipal official; or
(b) The school district clerk, in the case of a school district or cooperative school district official.
II. If a recall petition is against an official who is directed to call a recall election under paragraph I, the recall election shall be called by:
(a) The clerk of the superior court, if for the chief executive officer of a municipality; or
(b) The chief executive officer of a municipality, if for a school district or cooperative school district clerk.
671-A:10 Notification of Official. When the recall petition is filed with the appropriate election superintendent, the election superintendent shall send written notice of such filing by certified mail not more than 2 days after it is filed to the elected public official named in the petition. Such notice shall be given before the signatures are verified. It shall state that a recall petition has been filed and shall notify the elected public official named in the recall petition of the right to prepare and have printed on the ballot a statement containing not more than 200 words giving reasons why the official believes he or she should not be recalled. Such statement shall not be printed on the ballot unless it is delivered to the appropriate election superintendent within 10 days after the signatures have been verified.
671-A:11 Resignation. If the elected public official named in the petition for recall submits his or her resignation in writing, it shall be accepted effective the day it is offered. A vacancy so created shall be filled as required by law, except that the elected public official who resigned shall not be appointed to fill the vacancy. A special recall election may be combined with any other election if approval to do so is granted by the ballot law commission upon application to it.
671-A:12 Conduct of Special Recall Election.
I. The provisions of law applicable to the notice required for other special elections shall be applicable to the notice required for a special recall election. Such notice shall give the date of the holding of the special recall election and the purpose for it.
II. A special recall election for the recall of an elected public official shall be in all respects, except as provided in this chapter, the same as the regular election for choosing such official.
III. The costs of a special recall election shall be borne by the office of the secretary of state. The appropriate electoral district which holds the election shall receive such compensation for the costs of the election as shall be determined and approved by the secretary of state.
671-A:13 Form of Ballot. The ballot at a special recall election shall set forth the statement contained in the recall petition stating the reasons for demanding the recall of the elected public official and the official's statement, if any, of reasons why he or she should not be recalled. Then the question of whether such official should be recalled shall be placed on the ballot in a form similar to the following:
FOR recalling..................who holds the office of.....................
AGAINST recalling...............who holds the office of.................
671-A:14 Results Declared.
I. The elected public official named in the recall petition shall continue in office until the official resigns or the results of the recall election are officially declared.
II. If 30 percent or more of those registered and qualified to vote at the special recall election do vote and if a majority of those voting on the question vote to remove the elected public official, the office shall become vacant and the vacancy shall be filled as provided by law, provided that the elected public official recalled shall in no event be appointed to fill the vacancy. If fewer than 30 percent of those registered and qualified to vote at the special recall election vote, the elected public official shall not be recalled regardless of the result of such vote and shall remain in office. If 30 percent or more of those qualified to vote at the special recall election do vote, but a majority vote not to recall the elected public official, such official shall remain in office.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
LBAO
06-2626
11/1/05
HB 1635-FN-LOCAL - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to direct recall elections.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of State and New Hampshire Municipal Association state this bill will increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2007 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on state, county, and local revenue or county and local expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Department of State indicates this bill will increase state expenditures by a potentially significant but indeterminable amount. The Department is unable to determine the exact fiscal impact at this time since there is not enough detail in the bill to accurately gauge the application proposed, or the number of recall elections that will be requested.
The New Hampshire Municipal Association states a recall election of a municipal officer under this bill would involve a number of costs, including the costs of printing ballots, compensation to the election workers and other election day expenses, compensation to supervisors of the checklist for holding a session to correct the checklist prior to election, and associated expenses, including the cost of advertising the session and notifying an officer by certified mail that a recall petition has been filed against him or her. Since it is impossible to determine how often recall elections might be called, the amount of these costs is indeterminable. The Association states this bill provides that the costs of a special recall election shall be borne by the Department of State, and therefore assumes this bill would have no fiscal impact on municipalities.