Column: November referendums circumvent our legislative process

On November 8, Maine voters will decide on six citizen initiatives. It is my opinion that the citizen initiative process is flawed, and circumvents the legislative process. Rather than have elected officials study an issue it goes directly out to the voters, who often rely on media sound bites and advertisements for their information.

Many times these ballot items are much more complex that what the wording of the question would indicate. It is a very difficult job to craft the wording of a single question to give a fair synopsis of what the bill entails.  Signature gatherers are paid, often times by out-of-state organizations, to get folks to sign on.  Some initiatives are then supported by big money through the election.

I will be voting “no” on items 1-5 and “yes” on the highway bond. Some of you will vote differently; that is fine – that’s why they make chocolate and vanilla! The most important thing is that you vote, and educate yourself as well as possible before doing so.  I have included electronic links to the full wording of each proposed statute below.

Question 1  –  Legalize Recreational Marijuana

This proposed statute is 30 pages long.  While many feel that “the time has come”, I still think that we the potential downside outweighs the positives.

The full statute language may be found here.

Question 2 – Education Funding

This question asks voters if they would like to have a surtax placed on people (households) that make more than $200,000 annually. The money raised from this tax would be destined for classroom instruction in public schools K through 12. Personally, I think that a referendum such as this is a horrible way to establish tax policy of any type, and a poor way to address flaws in the school funding formula.

With that said, however, it is easy to understand how frustrated people are, particularly individual and business property owners, at the steady increase in local required funds for education as a result of the EPS mill rate being set higher each year. Years ago, in another citizen referendum, voters determined that the state should pay 55 percent of the “cost” of education. The intent of this vote has been ignored in recent years, perhaps leading to this ballot item.

The full language of the proposed statute may be found here.

Question 3 – Firearms Sales/Background Checks

This question involves background checks being required for all gun sales in Maine. Currently only purchases from gun dealers require a background check, while private sales do not. This proposal has enormous financial backing from out of state.  Like many proposals the initial reaction may be “sure, why not – who wants to put guns in the hands of criminals or people that are not fit to own one?”

The better questions, however, is “will this do anything to curb gun related crime?”; and “will this place undue restrictions on a person’s ability to gift/loan or sell a firearm to family members and lifelong friends”. Like many of these proposals, this one is rife with language that may end up being interpreted and enforced in a way that the voters did not intend.

Judge for yourself – this link will take you to the full language of the proposed statute. 

Question 4 – Minimum Wage

This question asks the voters if they wish to approve an increase in Maine’s minimum wage law that would move the minimum wage to $12 per hour over a few years. Proponents claim that the current minimum wage is too low and a person cannot make a living. Opponents say that:

1. The minimum wage is designed to be an entry level wage for first time employees such as high school students
2. Most employers pay well over the minimum wage as it is
3. Increased minimum wage will result in costs up through the company as other employees will expect an increased differential
4. The loss of the “Tip Credit” will result in significant reductions to waiters, waitresses and other service employees that depend on tips; this ultimately could prove to have a negative effect on service to the consumer
5. The increased minimum wage could result in employers reducing their workforce, employees hours worked, or ultimately close their business.

In my opinion the referendum method is, again, a poor way to set a minimum wage, but was driven by the inability of policymakers to agree on lesser, more tolerable increases.

Here is the link to the full language of the proposed statute for your perusal and edification.

Question 5 – Ranked Choice Voting

This is a fascinating question regarding how we vote. With ranked choice, you would have the option to select as many candidates as you wish and rank them in the order of preference. The idea is, that if a candidate does not receive more that 50 percent of the vote then the bottom candidate would be removed from the running, second place votes would be added to the remaining candidates tally to then see if someone is now over 50 percent. If not, the bottom candidate is tossed out, etc.

Proponents claim that this will give us elected officials that are approved by a more broad spectrum of the voting public, and will result in less polarity and “mudslinging” during campaigns. Opponents note that this method does not guarantee that the winner will get more than 50 percent of the vote and that the proposed method would very likely require a change in the Maine constitution.

The full language of the proposed statute may be found here.

Question 6 – Transportation Bond

This is a bond question for highways, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure. It would allow the state to bond $100 million for this purpose, and would in turn allow the state to receive an additional $137 million in federal and other funds.

The wording of the statute may be found here.

I look forward to representing the citizens of House District #119 in the 128th Maine Legislature.  Please exercise your right to vote on November 8th!

Paul Stearns is State Representative in House District 119 which covers Abbot, Beaver Cove, Bowerbank, Greenville, Guilford, Monson, Parkman, Sangerville, Sebec, Shirley, Willimantic plus the unorganized territories of Blanchard Township, Northeast Piscataquis (including Barnard and Elliottsville Townships) and Northwest Piscataquis.