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Participate in
Voter Repeal of SB 175 S2!
(Alert 3/7/04)
Alert provided by Mr. Arnold
Gaunt.
To receive forfeiture alerts directly, e-mail
ajgaunt@xmission.com.
Accountability Utah foreword: SB 175 S2 will
destroy your property rights and Initiative B. In response,
citizens are filing a referendum petition to repeal this bill
before it goes into effect. Which county do you live in?
Who is your senator and representative? Are you willing to
help collect signatures? E-mail Arnold Gaunt at
ajgaunt@xmission.com.
Topics:
1. SB 175
Cannot Be Allowed to Go Into Law
2.
Citizen's Referendum Petition Will Be Filed on Monday
3. PLEASE
ASSIST IN GETTING SIGNATURES!
Addendum A: What is the Referendum Process?
Addendum B:
How Many Signatures Will Your County Require?
1. SB 175 Cannot Be
Allowed to Go Into Law
As most of you are aware,
2nd
Sub. SB 175 was passed by the Legislature on Wednesday
following concurrence by the Senate with House Amendments.
This bill effectively repeals
Initiative B, passed by 69% of Utah's voters in November 2000.
If 2nd Sub. SB 175 goes into
law, Utah's police will have both the method and motive to
cause your property to be forfeited under unjust federal
confiscation statutes. These statutes presume that property
owners are guilty, and do not provide attorneys fees and other
costs in the unlikely event an owner can prove his innocence.
Even if a forfeiture were to be
pursued under the state-level procedures, numerous due process
safeguards have been eliminated by 2nd Sub. SB 175. As with
forfeitures that are performed federally, the police will be
able to profit from the proceeds.
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2. Citizen's Referendum
Petition Will Be Filed on Monday
Because the majority of the
Legislature has so contemptuously destroyed protection for
your right to own property, a referendum will be filed on
Monday with the Lt. Governor's office to put 2nd Sub. SB 175
to a vote of the people in November. If we acquire the
requisite number of signatures, the bill will never go into
effect unless approved by the voters of Utah.
There is a very limited
timeframe to acquire signatures (40 days starting on March 4).
Though this is a daunting task, I believe that it is possible
to be successful.
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3. PLEASE ASSIST IN
GETTING SIGNATURES!
I would like for all recipients
of this message who are willing to assist with this critically
important campaign to respond to me privately at
ajgaunt@xmission.com.
Please let me know who your state Senator and Representative
are, and the county in which you reside. I look forward to
hearing from you.
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Addendum A: What is the Referendum Process?
A number of you have asked me
about "referendum", and how many signatures are required. In
response, in this message I will provide a brief explanation,
along with some links to provide more details.
Referendum occurs when voters
obtain sufficient signatures within the allowed timeframe to
put a bill passed by the Legislature (and signed by the
Governor) to a ratification vote. Therefore, if the voters
vote no, the bill does not become law. Enforcement of the law
is suspended until the ratification vote occurs (in November
in this instance).
To qualify, it is necessary to
obtain 10% of the cumulative vote for Governor in the 2000
election. And at least 10% must be obtained in 15 or more
counties. All this must occur within 40 days of the end of the
legislature. The process is defined in Utah code (beginning
with
20A-7-301), which you can review.
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Addendum B: How Many Signatures Will Your County Require?
From the Lt. Governor's web
page, I extracted information regarding the 2000 gubernatorial
vote, and also information on Initiative B. From this, the
following tables were created. The "min + 15%" in the tables
represents the approximate total signatures required to net
the 10% absolute requirement.
Gubernatorial results by county and candidate, including
Initiative B and the 10% requirement.
Initiative B results, by county.
Signature requirements by county, along with Initiative
B support.
Signature requirements by county support for Initiative B.
Signature requirements by total gubernatorial votes,
along with county support for Initiative B.
Arnold Gaunt
801-621-3122
Accountability Utah note: For more information on
SB 175 S2, Initiative B, and property confiscation without due
process (forfeiture), see the
Property Rights section of our Issues & Alerts page
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If you have comments or suggestions, please
email us at info@accountabilityutah.org.
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