Re: Maine "People's Veto."

[Q3JR4]

If the legislature passes a bill and the "people" veto it, couldn't the legislature pass the same bill again right after the vote? It seems to me that this is the case, but I'm not completely sure whether I would bet money on it which is why I'm throwing it out there.

If it IS the case, and I were the, you know, entire Maine legislature, I would pass the same bill (maybe change a couple words) again and again and again until the "right" outcome occurred.

Is it possible to continue to hammer away at the initiative process like that?

Q3JR4.
Anyone who knows gets a cookie.

[imdjh]

1. When the challenge was proposed, it was said that this is a glitch in the ME constitution

That the legislature can keep passing the bill and the electorate can keep voting it away. It would be interesting to see if the legislature could put a 60% vote requirement on the people's veto.

[regnaD kciN]

2. Many states (I don't know if Maine is one)...

...require that an initiative remain in effect for a period of time, such as two years. Since ME-1 banned same-sex marriage in the state, I don't see how any reworded bill could get around such a requirement, if the state has one.

Furthermore, I doubt you'll find many state legislators, most of whom will be up for re-election next year, willing to pass a new bill that cancels out a just-passed initiative. Sure, some who represent districts where ME-1 failed would feel safe doing so, but not those in the majority of Maine districts where it passed, particularly if the margin in the district wasn't close.

[IRemember]

4. They didn't ban anything

They just prevented legislation from becoming law.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

5. Nothing was banned. The law that ALLOWED same-sex marriage was simply overturned.

The legislature can indeed play pass-and-veto with the public as many times as is needed for a law to finally "stick"--this happened with anti-discrimination legislation first proposed in 1998 and finally fully enacted in 2005, when the second or third people's veto on the same law finally failed, making sexual orientation a protected class in Maine.

[Q3JR4]

9. I would hope

(though I know this isn't true) that most individuals in a legislature would be more interested in doing whats correct and not what's popular.

Q3JR4.


ELECTIONS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!
Before anyone else can say it. :)

[JackBeck]

3. Maine has a history of doing exactly what you state in your OP.

After the Legislature passed a state level version of employment non-discrimination for its LGBT citizens, it faced a people's veto three times before it finally passed.

Evan Wolfson was on Anderson Cooper the other night smacking around Tony Perkins and talked about how this has happened more than once in Maine's history.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

6. Yup. First made into law by the legislature in 1998, it finally passed by the voters in 2005 or so.

Maine has a history indeed, and I expect this to be no different, in the end.

[ShadowLiberal]

7. Yes, the problem for the antimarriage crowd is a gay marriage ban = out of reach for them in Maine

Until the antigay marriage bigots can ban gay marriage in Maine's state constitution, which would be quite a feat considering it requires the legislature to act first (and maybe even more then 50% of them, I forget), the legislature can keep on passing gay marriage laws again and again.

A gay marriage ban in the state consitution will never happen, it's more likely the the legislature just doesn't do anything related to gay marriage for a few years or so, then passes the law again when they think it's the right time, similar to hate crime legislation for gays that failed at least twice before from a people's veto.

[Q3JR4]

10. The way I look at it is that

we've already won. When the dust settles and the smoke clears Maine will have full equality.

This is also what I say about gay marriage on the federal level. It's only a matter of time before the USSC extends Loving V. Virginia to cover all committed couples.

Q3JR4.

[Q3JR4]

8. The reason I decided to ask this

had more to do with the fact that in the little red state where I'm from (which shall remain nameless in this OP but is easily found if one were interested enough) the people passed a law by initiative and the legislature repealed the law. The only consequence for the legislature was that when a second initiative was submitted and voted on it was voted down in an election where the legislature was reelected.

I think it depends on who cares for a particular position the most vs. how we the voters feel about the "other side".

Q3JR4.