Mississippi Advisory Opinions March 26, 1999: AGO 000013119 (March 26, 1999)

AGO 000013119.

Dear Mr. Carter:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an opinion and has assigned it to me for research and reply. You state and ask as follows:

Mr. Nick Walters submitted to this office a proposed initiative on November 18, 1998. On that same date this office delivered the initiative to the Attorney General's Office, and mailed notice of the delivery also on that date to Mr. Walters. Your office mailed the certificate of review dated November 24, 1998, to Mr. Walters. The certificate of review was delivered to this office on December 30, 1998, and the final text of the initiative was delivered to this office on December 29, 1998. Thus, more than fifteen working days has lapsed between receipt of the above mentioned November 18, 1998, letter, and the delivery of the certificate of review and the final text of the proposed initiative. Based on my telephone conversation with Mr. Walters on January 5, 1999, there is no dispute of this fact.

Our question is whether the proposed initiative of Mr. Walters, initially filed with this office on November 18, 1998, and the final text of which was filed with this office on December 29, 1998, is now valid. It appears from the language of Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-17-5 (1972) that the sponsor has abandoned the initiative proposal, and that the initiative proposal will not be assigned a serial number and will not be forwarded to the Attorney General for assignment of a ballot title and ballot summary.

By way of phone conversation you have informed me that Mr. Walters has refiled this particular initiative measure. However, you still would like an opinion in case a similar situation arises in the future.

In response, as you point out in your letter, Section 23-17-5 of the Mississippi Code reads in pertinent part as follows:

Within fifteen (15) working days after notification of submittal of the proposed initiative measure to the Attorney General, the person filing the proposed measure, if he desires to proceed with his sponsorship, shall file the measure together with the certificate of review with the Secretary of State for assignment of a serial number and the Secretary of State shall thereupon submit to the Attorney General a certified copy of the measure filed. Upon submitting the proposal to the Secretary of State for assignment of a serial number the Secretary of State shall refuse to make such assignment unless the proposal is accompanied by a certificate of review.

It is our opinion that the intent of the above statute is that the final text of the proposed initiative and the certificate of review must be filed within the required fifteen working days. If such is not done the initiative is no longer valid and the Secretary of State should not assign the measure a serial number and should not forward same to the Attorney General.

Very truly yours,

MIKE MOORE

ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: Mike Lanford

Assistant Attorney General

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