Burbank Municipal Code Art. 7 Circulation of Petitions

As used in this article, unless the context otherwise clearly indicates;

CIRCULATE: Present, exhibit, show, hold out.

PETITION: Any document, instrument or paper intended for presentation to any governmental agency or legislative body or intended, calculated, or expected to influence legislation or governmental action or inaction. [Formerly numbered Section 20-49; renumbered by Ord. No. 3058, eff. 2/21/87.]

The Council finds that numerous persons and organizations have been and are circulating petitions and soliciting signatures thereto on the public sidewalks, streets and by house to house canvass, that in many instances inquiry is made of City officials concerning who the sponsors and circulators of various petitions are and no information is available to City officials to answer such inquiries; that claims are made that the contents, meaning and purpose of many petitions are frequently misrepresented and that citizens have been persuaded to sign petitions by fraud and misrepresentation concerning the meaning and purpose of the same; that inquiry has been made to public officials by persons signing such petitions how they could contact the circulators to have their name removed from such petitions and City officials have been unable to advise the signer who the circulator was or where they could be found; that there are adequate provisions of the law regulating the circulation of petitions relating to elections and the like with penalties for violation provided, but that there are no present regulations of other petitions being circulated on the public streets; that some of the petitions being circulated pertain to matters of national and local defense and by the practice of fraud and misrepresentation signatures are secured to petitions and presented to government bodies and agencies which purport to express the views of the persons signing the same but which in truth and fact would not have been signed if the true facts were known to the persons signing the said petitions; that the public safety, peace, and welfare demands the exercise of the police power of the City in the enactment of this article. [Formerly numbered Section 20-50; renumbered by Ord. No. 3058, eff. 2/21/87.]

It shall be unlawful for any person to circulate a petition or solicit signatures on a petition in the City without first having:

A. Delivered three (3) copies of the proposed petition to the City Clerk not less than three (3) days before such petition is circulated or signatures solicited; and

B. Subscribed and sworn to a statement and delivered the same to the City Clerk not less than three (3) days before such petition is circulated or signatures solicited, stating:

1. The name and address of the person sponsoring such petition.

2. The name and address of the person financing the cost of printing, preparation, distribution and circulation of such petition. [Formerly numbered Section 20-51; renumbered by Ord. No. 3058, eff. 2/21/87.]

This article shall not apply to:

A. A petition expressly and specifically provided for by any national, state, or local law; or

B. A petition relating to, required, or provided for by the zoning provisions of this code or by street, sewer or other public improvement proceedings; or

C. A petition provided for by the laws relating to initiative, referendum and recall; or

D. Any petition provided for by the State election laws;

E. Any petition addressed to the Council pertaining to traffic in the streets or to the making, location, removal or abandonment of a public improvement. [Formerly numbered Section 20-52; renumbered by Ord. No. 3058, eff. 2/21/87.]

No person shall circulate a petition without having in their possession an identification card issued by the City Clerk, which shall state:

A. The title or nature of the petition.

B. The name of the sponsor.

C. The name and address of the circulator.

Such card shall be issued to any person applying therefor in person at the office of the City Clerk, or may be issued in quantity at the time of compliance with Section 5-3-703 of this article with subsection C of this section left blank, in which event it shall be the duty of the person to whom such cards are issued in quantity to report to the City Clerk the name and address of each person to whom such card is given, such report to be made in writing within seventy two (72) hours from the time the card is given to the circulator. All cards not used shall be returned to the City Clerk upon demand. [Formerly numbered Section 20-53; renumbered by Ord. No. 3058, eff. 2/21/87.]

No person shall alter an identification card issued under the provisions of this article or transfer such card to another or permit another to use such an identification card in the circulation or solicitation of signatures to a petition. [Formerly numbered Section 20-54; renumbered by Ord. No. 3058, eff. 2/21/87.]

No person shall circulate or solicit signatures to a petition unless the identification card issued by the City Clerk is affixed to the petition in clear view of the person signing the petition or is shown to the person signing the said petition. [Formerly numbered Section 20-55; renumbered by Ord. No. 3058, eff. 2/21/87.]

No person, in the circulation of or solicitation of signatures to any petition, shall misrepresent its contents, purpose or intent. [Formerly numbered Section 20-56; renumbered by Ord. No. 3058, eff. 2/21/87.]