Sacramento Bee

Gov. Gray Davis has vetoed a bill that would have informed voters whether the person gathering signatures for a new initiative is a volunteer or is a paid collector.

Current law requires petitions that voters sign to qualify a proposal for the ballot to state that the person circulating it might either be paid or a volunteer.

Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, the author of the bill, said many voters are unaware that some gatherers are paid to collect signatures. His bill would have required the petition to specify whether the person collecting signatures was a volunteer or paid.

Davis said in his veto message that the current law is sufficient.

It is the third veto for the idea. Davis rejected a similar bill in 1999 and former Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed one in 1998.