(a) Certificate of Clerk; amendment. Within 20 days after the petition is filed, the City Clerk shall complete a certificate as to its sufficiency, specifying, if it is insufficient, the particulars wherein it is defective and shall promptly send a copy of the certificate to the petitioner by registered mail. A petition certified insufficient for lack of the required number of valid signatures may be amended once if the petitioner files a notice of intention to amend it with the Clerk within two days after receiving the copy of such certificate. Such supplementary petition shall comply with the requirements of subsections 412(b) and (c) of this charter, and within five days after it is filed, the Clerk shall complete a certificate as to the sufficiency of the petition as amended and promptly send a copy of such certificate to the petitioner by registered mail as in the case of an original petition. If a petition or amended petition is certified sufficient, or if a petition or amended petition is certified insufficient and the petitioner does not elect to amend or request Council review under subsection (b) of this section within the time required, the Clerk shall promptly present the certificates to the Council and the certificates shall then be a final determination as to the sufficiency of the petition.

(b) Council review. If a petition has been certified insufficient and the petitioner does not file notice of intention to amend it or if an amended petition has been certified insufficient, the petitioner may, within two days after receiving the copy of such certificate, file a request that it be reviewed by the Council. The Council shall review the certificate within five days following the filing of such request and approve or disapprove it, and the Council's determination shall then be a final determination as to the sufficiency of the petition.

(c) Court review; new petition. A final determination as to the sufficiency of a petition shall be subject to court review. A final determination of insufficiency, even if sustained upon court review, shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose. (Added 2015, No. M-19 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. May 17, 2016.)