A bill that would impose new standards governing the citizen's initiative and people's veto ballot process was killed today by a legislative policy committee. Democratic House Majority Whip Seth Berry, of Bowdoinham, says his bill was an attempt to bring greater accountability and transparency to the process of bringing issues to ballot, but Republican opponents saw the proposal as an attempt to complicate and discourage signature-gathering efforts.

Democrats on the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee caucused privately before joining Republicans on the panel to announce the fate of LD 1690, a bill sponsored by Democratic House Majority Whip Seth Berry. Then, Senate Chair Nancy Sullivan, a Biddeford Democrat, announced the results. "On the side of the Democrats in caucus, we would be in a process now to vote to 'ought not to pass' 1690."

Democrats, who outnumber Republicans 8-5 on the panel, agreed to kill the bill after Republican state Sen. Debra Plowman, of Hampden, threatened to lead a people's veto against a Democratically-engineered bill. Sullivan told Republicans there are now other options available to the committee, including work on LD 1730, a more targeted signature fraud measure sponsored by state Democratic Sen. John Nutting of Leeds.

"We were looking to take off our agenda 1690 in an 'ought not to pass' and then to use 1730 as a vehicle to put out things that we would like to be able to sit down and agree with your party on," Sullivan said. "That's what we're hoping to do because I don't think that either bill by itself would work, and we don't want to do that".

The showdown over Berry's bill has its roots in a tax refom law passed by majority Democrats in the Legislature. That reform bill was was subsequently challenged through the people's veto process by Republicans, and a repeal question will apprea on the June ballot.

Berry has claimed that some signers were lied to to by circulators who were being paid to gather signatures. He also objects to current laws which do not require those paying for signature gathering to register with the state. His bill would have also allowed challengers to inspect petitions before they can be certified as valid by the Secretary of State. It would also allow signers to retract their signatures if they believed they were misled.

All of those changes received a frosty response from Republicans. State Rep. Stacey Fitts, a Pittsfield Republican, says even the title of the bill --- An Act to Prevent Predatory Signature Gathering -- was enought to set off most opponents. "I just think every aspect of it was distasteful, and I think it became equally distasteful for both sides."

Republicans say they are willing to work on measures to increase penalties for fraud, but that the GOP will resist attempts to incorporate any aspects of Berry's bill that they think would impede the people's veto or citizen initaive process.

Committee House Chair Pamela Trinward, a Waterville Democrat, says she's simply trying to find some room for consensus on a volatile issue. "Some of the issues that came out in this election are very important issues, in the past process, so we need to try and address those. If we can work together, it'd be great, I'd be all for it," she says.

Meanwhile, Rep. Berry says he'd like to bring a more accountability to the citizen initiative and people's veto ballot process -- even if it's not specifically his bill. "I'm negotiating, and I think both sides are negotiating in good faith right now around the possible solutions, so we'll see where it goes," he says. "And if next Wednesday we need to break and have a party-line vote, so be it, but I think we really could come together around something here."

The committee chairs are also exploring the prospect of obtaining a joint order to allow the panel to craft its own bill.