§ 66-37. Referendum.

(a)

Whenever 15 percent of the registered voters, as disclosed by registration lists of the last preceding general municipal election, shall request, in a petition filed with the municipal clerk, amendments to the Charter or amendments to or repeals of ordinances or resolutions which may have already been adopted by the council, the amendments or repeals shall thereafter be submitted to the qualified voters of the city. Such petition shall specifically set forth the exact language of the proposed amendment or repeal. The council shall determine the validity of such petition within 50 days of its filing. If such petition is determined valid, within one week the council shall issue the call for a special election for the purpose of submitting such amendment or repeal to the registered electors of the city for their approval or rejection. The council shall set the date of the special election as provided in O.C.G.A. § 21-3-53. The council shall cause a notice of the date of the election to be published in a newspaper of general circulation once a week for two weeks immediately preceding such date. The voting on questions submitted to the people at the special election provided for in this section in what is known as the initiative and referendum shall be held in the same manner as the general election, under the same methods, and the result thereof shall be canvassed in the same manner and declared and reported to the council for confirmation. If the majority of the votes are cast against the ordinance or resolution, it shall be thereby repealed and revoked and shall not thereafter be of any effect nor shall it thereafter be adopted by the council until resubmitted to and adopted by the qualified voters of the city in the same manner as originally submitted. If a majority of the votes are cast in the affirmative, the ordinance or resolution shall stand and be effective in the same manner as other ordinances or resolutions of the city. If the council determines that the petition is not valid, it shall publish in detail, in a newspaper of general circulation in the week immediately following the date on which the petition is declared to be not valid, the reasons why such petition is not valid.

(b)

The sponsor of a petition authorized by this section shall obtain copies of all official petitions from the municipal clerk. The municipal clerk shall approve all petitions as to form. The municipal clerk shall provide a place on each form for the person collecting signatures to provide such person's name, street address, city, county, state, ZIP code and telephone number and to swear that such person is a resident of the city and that the signatures were collected inside the boundaries of the city. The collection of signatures for the petition shall begin on the day the municipal clerk provides official copies to the sponsor of the petition. A petition authorized by this section shall not be accepted by the council for verification if more than 60 days have elapsed since the date the sponsor of the petition first obtained copies of the petition from the municipal clerk.

(c)

The council shall be authorized to submit to the qualified voters of the city at any election any ordinance or resolution which it may deem proper. If a majority of voters shall vote for this ordinance or resolution, it shall be adopted. If a majority of the votes so cast are against the resolution or ordinance, it shall be defeated and shall not thereafter be adopted by the council until resubmitted to and adopted by the qualified voters of the city. If it receives a majority vote of the people and becomes effective, it can only be repealed by a majority vote of the qualified voters at a special election.

(Code 1977, § 1-3022)

State law reference

Charter amendments, O.C.G.A. § 36-35-3.