Some observers believe Maine's citizen-initiated referendum process could create

Sean Donahue

Source

Mainebiz

Date

1-24-2005

Pages

1, 12-14

Abstract

Some observers believe Maine's citizen-initiated referendum process could create California-like chaos, where citizen-initiated tax caps piled on top of spending mandates led to a huge deficit. Although tax cap referenda helped spur the Maine Legislature to initiate tax reform, George Smith of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine questions whether citizens should weigh in on resource management issues, as they have done with proposed bans on clear-cutting and bear-baiting. Controversial measures can also create economic uncertainty while they are being debated. With details on the history of Maine's referendum process, a list of referenda since 1990, and Jim Wilfong's attempt to bring a measure to the voters to tax water extracted in Maine by bottling companies.

Subjects

Referendums (State)

Full text is not available here. Please contact the Library for a copy of the article.

Share

COinS