Popular Legislative Initiatives

Popular Legislative Initiatives constitute a procedure of direct involvement by citizens in bringing about regulations by presenting 500,000 signatures.

Once a Popular Legislative Initiative proposal has been accepted, the signature collection procedure commences. This may be done using traditional sheets, which may be in Castilian Spanish or, jointly, in any of the co-official languages of the country, and signatures may also be collected electronically, so long as the genuine wishes of the citizen signing the popular legislative initiative are guaranteed.

The time-frame for collecting signatures is nine months, with the possibility of a three-month extension where this is considered justified by the Congress Board.

Guaranteeing the signature collection procedure is the responsibility of the General Electoral Board, and in order to validate a signature, an essential requirement is that the signatory be registered on the Electoral Census, and this must be demonstrated by means of certification thereof. This certification confirms the capacity of the signatory and avoids multiple signatures by a single citizen.

Besides the nationwide Popular Legislative Initiatives, there are Initiatives on an Autonomous Community level, governed by the corresponding Autonomous Popular Legislative Initiative laws.

• Organic Law 3/1984 of 26 March on Popular Legislative Initiative, amended by Organic Law 4/2006 of 26 May, Article 1, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12
• Agreement of 10th May 2012, of the General Electoral Board on the procedure for the verification and certification of the signatures of a popular legislative initiative. 
• Procedure for the delivery in the Electoral Census Office of signatures of a popular legislative initiative