Could the Maine Legislature rewrite the ballot question for a citizen initiative on electric power and high-level radioactive waste?

Plain-English summary

In 1987, the Maine Attorney General's office concluded that the Legislature could not enact L.D. 119 to change the ballot question for a pending citizen initiative concerning electric-power generation and high-level radioactive waste.

The letter relied on an office opinion issued the previous year about proposed legislative changes to the ballot question for a local measured telephone service referendum. Because the new inquiry presented the same legal question, the office gave the same answer: the Maine Constitution did not authorize the Legislature to alter the question.

The source letter does not reproduce the attached earlier opinion's constitutional analysis, so this page does not extend the conclusion beyond the ballot-question issue the letter resolved.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1987. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

What change did L.D. 119 propose?

It proposed simplifying the referendum question for Initiated Bill No. 1, concerning electric-power generation and high-level radioactive waste.

Did the opinion approve the Legislature's proposed rewrite?

No. The office said the Legislature lacked constitutional authority to alter the ballot question.

Did this letter explain the full constitutional reasoning?

No. It incorporated an attached prior opinion about another referendum, but that analysis is not reproduced in the source text available here.

Background and statutory framework

Representative Kelley P. Simpson and Senator Thomas H. Andrews asked whether the Legislature could enact L.D. 119 while Initiated Bill No. 1 was pending. A departmental review found that the office had answered the same question during the previous year's telephone-service referendum.

Citations and references

• L.D. 119 (1987)
• Initiated Bill No. 1, L.D. 20 (1987)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.maine.gov/legis/lawlib/lldl/agops/agops.htm
• Original PDF: https://lldc.mainelegislature.org/Open/AG/Opinions/1987/ag_19870203.pdf

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain — the linked PDF is authoritative.

Attachment E
JAMES E. TIERNEY
ATTORNEY GENERAL

STATE OF MAINE
DEPARTMENT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
STATE HOUSE STATION 6
AUGUSTA, MAINE 04333

February 3, 1987

Honorable Kelley P. Simpson
Maine House of Representatives
State House Station »2
Augusta, ME 04333
Honorable Thomas H. Andrews
Maine State Senate
State House Station ijJ
Augusta, ME 04333
Dear Representative Simpson and Senator Andrews:
I am writing in response to your inquiries concerning the constitutionality of Legislative Document No. 119, "Resolve, to Simplify the Wording on the Ballot of the Proposed Initiative Regarding the Generation of Electric Power and High-level Radioactive Waste." As you know, the purpose of this bill is to change the text of the question to be put to the voters at referendum with regard to Initiated Bill No. 1 (Legislative Document No. 20), "AN ACT Regarding the Generation of Electric Power and High-level Radioactive Waste," which at present is before the Legislature for its consideration. You have asked whether it is within the power of the Legislature to enact L.D. 119.

Subsequent to the conversations which you had with our office, a review of the Department's previous Opinions indicated that the office had answered this question last year in the context of a proposal to have the Legislature redraft the question to be presented to the voters with regard to the Local Measured Telephone Service referendum. At that time, as you will see from the attached Opinion, the office advised the Legislature that it did not have the authority under the Maine - 2 -

Constitution to alter the question. Since the question which you pose is exactly the same, our response is the same as well.
Please let me know if you have any further questions regarding this matter.

~
OWARD
Deputy Attorney General
Chief, Opinions Division
CH:sw
cc: Sen. Judy C. Kany
Rep. Charles R. Priest
Chairpersons, Joint Standing Committee on Legal Affairs Sen. Nancy R. Clark
Sen. Thomas R. Perkins
Rep. Harry L. Vose
Rep. Eugene J. Paradis
Sponsors, Legislative Document No. 119