A group with a website called Shakamovement.org maintains that it has enough signatures of registered voters to place before Maui County voters an initiative that would call for a conditional ban on planting genetically modified crops.

Shaka Movement spokesman Mark Sheehan said volunteers have collected more than the 9,600 signatures required to place the Maui County initiative on the general election ballot.

The group turned in the petition Monday to the Maui County clerk.

The County Clerk’s Office has 45 calendar days to determine whether the submission meets the requirements for an initiative.

The initiative petition, if determined to be valid, allows the public to vote on the issue in the Nov. 4 general election.

Under the Maui County Charter, at least 20 percent of the total number of voters who cast ballots in the last mayoral general election must sign the petition to place an initiative on the ballot.

Passing the initiative would require a majority of the votes cast in the general election, according to the County Clerk’s Office.

In the last mayoral general election in 2010, Maui County residents cast 42,322 votes.

Sheehan said people in Shakamovement.org decided to pursue the idea of an initiative in anticipation of the Maui County Council "burying" a bill on GMOs.

The bill was sent to Councilman Riki Hokama’s Policy and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, instead of to the panel headed by Elle Cochran, who introduced the measure. The bill is similar to legislation passed in Novem- ber in Kauai County, according to Cochran. Hawaii County passed a GMO-related bill in December.

"I have news for them," Sheehan said. "It’s not going away."

Hokama was unavailable for comment.

Sheehan said the initiative would put a moratorium on future plantings of GMO crops in Maui County, until there is proof there’s no harm to people and the environment through an environmental public health impact statement.

Several individuals, including the former state health administrator for Maui, Dr. Lorrin Pang, are leading the initiative by Shaka Movement, also known as the "Sustainable Hawaiian Agriculture for Keiki and the Aina," Sheehan said.

The Maui County Farm Bureau has opposed the bill, saying it would add more regulations and put an additional burden on agriculture.

In November, Maui County Mayor Alan Ara- kawa signed a memorandum of understanding with Monsanto Co., which grows genetically engineered crops. In it, the company agreed to disclose its use of restricted-use pesticides. But some critics say the memorandum isn’t enough.