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Tax Initiative Enters Circulation

Undocumented Immigrants. State Income Taxes. Initiative Statute.

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponents of a new initiative may begin collecting petition signatures for their measure.

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponents and to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponents and to county elections officials, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Attorney General's official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS. STATE INCOME TAXES. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Creates a five-year program to encourage undocumented workers to pay state income taxes. Directs Governor to request that federal authorities not spend resources to apprehend, detain, or deport participants, or to prosecute their employers. Defines eligible participants as those undocumented taxpayers who have filed California tax returns for the most recent year, have been California residents since January 1, 2008, consent to background checks, speak or are learning English, and are not felons, suspected terrorists, public charges, or public employees. Maintains confidentiality of information gathered from participants. Does not provide citizenship or amnesty. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Unknown net change in annual state tax revenues through 2017-18, but probably without a significant impact on overall General Fund revenues. Annual state administrative costs through 2017-18 in the hundreds of thousands or low millions of dollars, supported by required participant fees. (11-0089.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1564 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0089.

The proponents for this measure, Felipe Fuentes and John G. Cruz, must collect signatures of 504,760 registered voters – the number equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2010 gubernatorial election – in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponents have 150 days to circulate petitions for this measure, meaning the signatures must be collected by July 2, 2012.

The initiative proponents can be reached at (323) 371-7305.

To sign up for regular ballot measure updates via email, RSS feed, or Twitter, go to www.sos.ca.gov/multimedia.

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