I am currently trying to find info on how many signatures it would take to force the government to put something into law or consider it. Anyone been through this process or know about it? I can't find much on the petition process other than specific ones and nothing applies so far.

Just to give you an idea of what kind of petition I am trying to get through,

1.If you want to be a public official, then they should have to send their children to public schools, no private schools. If they have to send their children to public school like you and me maybe we would get some better funding for more teachers and more security. Right now these people are voting in laws that applies to your children but not theirs.
2. They have to live on the average income for the middle class in this country and have the same insurance and pay the same amount for it as the average joe and jane in this country. These people running for office are telling us they support the working man let them live like one and see if things don't get better, their incomes only go up when the median middle class income does, their insurance only gets better when ours does. Their benefits only get better when ours does. No more perks unless we get them too.
These people only relate to us when its time to get our vote and promptly forget us the minute they get elected, they then party with the wealthy, get huge pay increases while the rest of us are struggling, its time they struggle too. Anyway what I am wondering is if we got enough signatures could it be forced into being a law?

Here are the rules just to get the proposed law on the ballot, something tells me each election the process gets more complicated.

"The sponsor of an initiative must register as a political committee with the Florida Division of Elections.
The person or group circulating the initiative petition must submit a format of the petition to the Division of Elections before the amendment may be circulated for signatures. The Division reviews the proposed petition for formatting only. By law, the ballot title may be no longer than 15 words and the summary no more than 75 words.
Proponents may begin circulating the petition once the format is approved. This can be done by volunteers, by firms that are paid to obtain signatures or by a combination of the two. The minimum number of signatures needed for an initiative to be placed on the ballot must equal 8 percent of the number of the ballots cast in the last presidential election. For 2006, this number is 611,223. In addition, the signatures must come from at least half of the state’s congressional districts (12).
When the petition receives 10 percent of the required amount of signatures in at least one-fourth of half the state’s congressional districts, the petition is submitted to the Supervisors of Elections in the appropriate counties for signature verification.
The Secretary of State, in turn, must automatically submit the petition to the Attorney General if: 1) the sponsor has complied with registration and submittal requirements and 2) the sponsor has obtained a letter from the Division of Elections confirming that the petition signatures have been verified by the appropriate Supervisors of Elections.
Within 30 days of receiving the proposed amendment, the Attorney General must petition the Supreme Court and request an advisory opinion regarding compliance with the proposed ballot and format requirements. The Supreme Court has no deadline for issuing an opinion.
If the Court approves the petition, the proponents must gather the rest of the signatures needed to place the initiative on the ballot. The Court may not rule on the content of the petition. They can disallow an initiative for two reasons. One reason is if the ballot summary does not accurately reflect what the amendment is proposing. The second is if it violates Florida's strict single subject requirement. "

I want to get a Hemp Farming bill passed in Florida, a bill that makes it easier for Florida farmers to grow hemp for industrial purposes. Just to get a bill approved to be on the ballot takes so much time and collaberation many supporters are needed just to get it in, not to mention campaign for it once its on there.

Gee goose I don't know.
But when you find out I'll sign it and I know quite a few others who would too.
But even if you got enough signatures I think it would be a heck of a fight to make it a law. I don't think that the greedy, spoiled politicians would give up what they have too easily.

To answer your question without reading through that post, in Florida it is 611,223 + verification by the Supervisor of Elections.

Thanks for the info, I think most Americans would sign this if we could get a well known group behind it that is not politically affilitated.

Good luck on the hemp petition, its crazy that there is only one form that is considered a drug but all of it is banned. I hope you get it passed if I lived in Florida I would sign it. Are there any farming groups you can work with? Farmers lost a great deal of opportunities by the gov. banning it all, maybe if you can show them how much of a difference it would make to their pockets it would help?

Heck I am all for legalizing the drug itself, I don't toke but I got no problem with people who do. I would probably try it if it was not for fear of getting locked up.

[edit on 10-3-2005 by goose]

You can not petition a federal law into being. Anyone can submit a law to congress, and within states for state laws things obviously will vary.

Jrod, is that 611,223 number for getting on the ballot or to make something a state law in florida?

I don't, personally, think that polticians should be required to take their kids out of private school and put them into public schools upon being elected. Its hardly going to help the school system anyway.

Well if we could get it passed in each state applying to state reps then it would soon follow to cover all federal employees. I think the millions of signatures alone might be a huge wakeup call, its time the common man got some representation and we are only going to get it from these people when they have to live like us, or at least fear they might be forced too.

As for their being forced to send their children to public schools it would make a difference, these people are making laws that affect your kids while those same laws don't affect theirs, its time they did. If they are going to cut education programs then let theirs reap the same problems from those cuts as ours.

Yes there are farming groups I can work with. I have been thinking about this for a while and really have to get the ball rolling on this if I want it on the '06 ballot. I also have a family connection to the GOP so if I can convince them that this is a good idea, have the farmers on my side, and make it clear that this is NOT an attempt to legalize marijuana, just something that will help the Florida farming industry, thus Florida's economy, it should be pass no problem.

What is awesome with hemp is the potential to make biodiesel from it. The farmers would save millions because they will be growing their own fuel especially with the way oil prices are going.

[edit on 10-3-2005 by jrod]

Yep get the farmers behind you on this and also the enviromentalists, but look out for the oil industry and the automotive industry on this one. Can this fuel be used for home heating? If you can show people their heating and cooling bills would be going down you might be able to push this through.

Shamefully bumping in hopes someone will take this idea and perhaps get it to an organization that will be able to run with it.

Originally posted by goose
Well if we could get it passed in each state applying to state reps then it would soon follow to cover all federal employees.

What? No it wouldn't.

I think the millions of signatures alone might be a huge wakeup call,

Indeed, it would be a good publicity stunt.

its time the common man got some representation and we are only going to get it from these people when they have to live like us,

I wouldn't want to be governed by the common man. The common man's a freeking idiot. The common man is whats most common, its the 'average'. The common man is more concerned with who knob paris hilton is slobbing than how altering federal interest rates will affect the housing market, or whether a decentralized public water supply is better than a decentralized one in terms of reducing the disolved particulates.

or at least fear they might be forced too.

Sounds like mobocracy rather than democracy.

I do like your proposal goose, though the part about making the public officials send their kids to public schools may not be enforceable, even if it is they would just send their kids to the best public schools in the area. American public schools are not equal. A longshot to fight this is to stop electing rich tools to government, I much rather have the average middle class worker in office anyday. I will take a common idiot anyday over a rich tool, the big difference is the common man has seen real problems in society and is more prepared to fix them, the rich tool has been given everything with a silver spoon and the only problem he/she ever faces is if their image is what the voting mass wants to see.

A good campaign might be vote the common man in and the rich tool out!

Gosh, should I be surprised that a guy named "Rant" is a fan of that dastardly pirate?