(a) At such time as a proposed constitutional amendment and its concomitant ballot question are approved by the General Assembly for presentation to the electors of the state for their consideration at a general election, the Office of Legislative Research shall prepare a concise explanatory text as to the content and purpose of the proposed constitutional amendment subject to the approval of the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of constitutional amendments. Upon such approval, the Secretary of the State shall cause such proposed amendment and such explanatory text to be printed and transmitted to the town clerk, and to the registrars of voters in each town in the state in sufficient supply for public distribution.

(b) The Secretary of the State shall print the explanations of proposed constitutional amendments, as required by subsection (a) of this section, on posters of a size to be determined by said Secretary and shall mail at least three such posters for every polling place within a town, to the registrars of voters. Said registrars shall cause at least three such posters to be posted at each polling place at which electors shall be voting on such proposed constitutional amendments. Any posters received by the registrars in excess of the number required by this subsection to be so posted may be displayed by said registrars at their discretion at locations which are frequented by the public. No expenditure of state funds shall be made to influence electors to vote for or against any such proposed constitutional amendment.

(1967, P.A. 303, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 610, S. 2; P.A. 73-404; P.A. 79-31, S. 8, 17; P.A. 82-314, S. 7, 63; P.A. 83-335, S. 2; P.A. 84-94, S. 1; P.A. 11-173, S. 53.)

History: 1971 act deleted reference to the committee on constitutional amendments, giving the secretary of the state responsibility for preparing explanation of amendment, subject to approval of committee on government administration and policy; P.A. 73-404 added Subsec. (b) concerning poster-sized copies of the explanations for display at polling places; P.A. 79-31 changed committee name to committee on government administration and elections; P.A. 82-314 transferred responsibility for approval of constitutional amendments from government administration and elections committee to committee having cognizance of constitutional amendments; P.A. 83-335 transferred the responsibility for preparing an explanatory text for proposed constitutional amendments from the office of the secretary of state to the office of legislative research; P.A. 84-94 prohibited expenditure of state funds to influence vote on constitutional amendments; P.A. 11-173 added language re concomitant ballot question and registrars in Subsec. (a) and replaced references to clerks with references to registrars in Subsec. (b), effective July 13, 2011.