In legal practice, the term “civic initiative” means the collective expression of the will of citizens on issues within the competence of government bodies at different levels. There are several ways to organize a civic initiative.
Define the problem
Civil initiative is an effective mechanism for interaction between the authorities and the population. Citizens get the opportunity to participate in solving urban or regional problems, as well as to control the authorities and the decisions that these bodies make. Before launching a civic initiative, define the problem precisely and make sure that the authority you are going to contact really has the right to solve it. Your task is to draw the attention of an executive, representative or legislative body to this issue. Quite often, Russian citizens come up with civil initiatives on issues related to urban planning, ecology, medicine, education, legislation.
Forms of civic initiative
Now the most popular form of civil initiative is collecting signatures. Make a subscription list. In some municipalities, forms of such sheets have been developed; you can take them from the secretariat of the representative body. But self-made signature lists will have the same legal force as those on the forms, if you follow certain rules. At the top of each sheet, you need to place a text in which it is precisely formulated what the citizens demand from the authority. For example, to stop illegal deforestation on the territory, to revise the land use rules in such and such a part, to change the resolution adopted by the administration. The signatures themselves are drawn up in the form of a table with the following columns:
- serial number;
- surname and initials of the citizen;
- the address;
- telephone;
- passport data;
- the signature itself.
Please note that only those citizens who are registered in the territory under the jurisdiction of this authority should sign the sheets.
Collection of signatures through the site
It is also possible to organize a civil initiative via the Internet. There are several sites specifically designed for this. These are, for example, "Democrat", Change and some others. Formulate and enter the question, give a link to the problem on social networks. This option is good when a lot of signatures are required - for example, in order for the State Duma to pay attention to the problem.
Lawmaking Initiative
One of the options for civil initiative is legislative. Every citizen has the right to amend legislation, and the representative or legislative body must consider them. The procedure is usually as follows:
- a citizen submits a proposal for a legislative initiative to a local government body;
- the local representative body considers the proposal and decides to come up with a legislative initiative in the Legislative Assembly;
- Deputies of the Legislative Assembly consider the issue and decide to submit it to the State Duma.
A citizen who comes up with such an initiative should keep in mind that his proposal may be rejected at any stage.
