MEDICAL MARIJUANA PETITIONS WON'T REQUIRE AS MANY SIGNATURES AS EXPECTED

HELENA - Medical marijuana advocates preparing to mount a
signature-gathering effort to suspend a soon-to-enacted law
restricting the industry won't need to collect nearly as many names as
they initially believed.

They will need to obtain between 31,238 and 43,247 signatures,
depending on which state House districts they use, but they don't need
to gather a total of 73,010 signatures as some originally believed.

Once Gov. Brian Schweitzer lets Senate Bill 423, by Sen. Jeff Essmann,
R-Billings, become law without his signature, they can take the
initial steps needed to launch a signature-gathering effort.
Suspension backers first must file documents with the secretary of
state's office, which triggers a review by several state offices.

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch's office concluded Tuesday that any
efforts to suspend laws need only the signatures of at least 15
percent of the registered voters in at least 51 of the state House
districts as the Montana Constitution specifies.

They do not also need to obtain the signatures of 15 percent of the
total number of people who voted for governor in 2008, said Jorge
Quintana, the office's chief legal counsel.

That will make a huge difference in the signature-gathering
efforts.

To get the 15 percent of the 51 districts will take between 31,238
signatures for the 51 House districts with the lowest number of voters
to 43,247 signatures for the 51 districts with the most voters,
McCulloch's election staff calculated.

The state constitution empowers citizens to undertake referendum
efforts to put a state law on the ballot if they get enough signatures
so voters can decide whether to keep it or reject it. That takes the
signatures of 5 percent of the registered voters in at least 34 House
districts. The total number of signers also must equal at least 5
percent of the state's registered voters.

A suspension goes one step beyond a referendum and requires
considerably more signatures by stopping a law from being implemented
until Montanans vote on it.