The Initiative and Referendum Author:Charles Homer Talbot Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SUMMARY The leading provisions relating to direct state legislation may be summarized under six main headings, as follows:—(I) the scope of direct legislation... more », (II) limitations on the re-submission of measures, (III) procedure for initiative petitions, (IV) procedure for reference of measures, (V) enactment of referred measures, and (VI) penalties. I. SCOPE OP DIRECT LEGISLATION In the United States direct legislation has been applied to constitutional and to statutory law; it has also been employed to obtain expressions of public opinion on state affairs, and to secure instructions as to party policy within the political parties. Constitutional law The constitutional amendments for direct legislation in state affairs apply generally to constitutional law. Exceptions. Some of the states exempt constitutional amendments from the operation of the initiative. See Mont. Const. (Amend. 1906), art. 5, sec. 1; Me. (Amend. 1908) Resolves, 1907. c. 121, pp. 1476-1481. Statutory law As regards statutory law, some of the amendments provide for specific exceptions to the use of direct legislation, and nearly all provide for emergency measures. Exceptions. The specific exceptions generally relate to appropriations for the current expenses of the state government, for the maintenance of the state institutions, and for the support of the public schools. Compare the provisions of Me.. Mo., Mont., and 8. D. Emergency measures. Laws necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, are generally exempt from the operation of the referendum. See Ark. (Proposed Const. Amend.), acts, 1909, pp. 1238-40: Me. (Amend. 1908), Resolves, 1907, c. 121; Mo. (Amend. 1908), Laws, 1907, p. 452-3; Mont. Const. (Amend. 1906) art. 5, sec. 1; Okla. Con...« less