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DB12:070
June 20, 2012

Contact: Shannan Velayas
(916) 653-6575

Ninth Measure Qualifies for November California Ballot

SACRAMENTO - California Secretary of State Debra Bowen today certified a ninth measure for the November 6, 2012, General Election ballot. The measure, which would temporarily increase taxes, joins eight other measures already on the November ballot:

  • A water bond measure, which was placed on the ballot by the Legislature;
  • A political contribution measure, which qualified through the initiative process;
  • An auto insurance measure, which qualified through the initiative process;
  • A measure to repeal the State Senate District maps, which qualified through the referendum process;
  • A measure to repeal the death penalty, which qualified through the initiative process;
  • A measure to increase criminal penalties for human trafficking, which qualified through the initiative process;
  • A measure to revise the three strikes law, which qualified through the initiative process; and
  • A measure requiring the labeling of genetically engineered foods, which qualified through the initiative process;]

In order to qualify for the ballot, the temporary tax initiative needed 807,615 valid petition signatures, which is equal to eight percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2010 gubernatorial election. A measure can qualify via random sampling of petition signatures if the sampling projects a number of valid signatures greater than 110 percent of the required number. The temporary tax initiative needed at least 888,377 projected valid signatures to qualify by random sampling, and it exceeded that threshold today.

County elections officials have 30 working days to verify the validity of the signatures filed with their offices using a random sampling method. The state Elections Code requires county elections officials to verify 500 signatures or three percent of the number of signatures filed in the county, whichever is greater. Counties receiving fewer than 500 petition signatures are required to verify all the signatures filed in their elections offices.

The Attorney General's official title and summary of the initiative is as follows:

TEMPORARY TAXES TO FUND EDUCATION. GUARANTEED LOCAL PUBLIC SAFETY FUNDING. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Increases personal income tax on annual earnings over $250,000 for seven years. Increases sales and use tax by ¼ cent for four years. Allocates temporary tax revenues 89 percent to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges. Bars use of funds for administrative costs, but provides local school governing boards discretion to decide, in open meetings and subject to annual audit, how funds are to be spent. Guarantees funding for public safety services realigned from state to local governments. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Increased state revenues over the next seven fiscal years. Estimates of the revenue increases vary—from $6.8 billion to $9 billion for 2012-13 and from $5.4 billion to $7.6 billion, on average, in the following five fiscal years, with lesser amounts in 2018-19. These revenues would be available to (1) pay for the state's school and community college funding requirements, as increased by this measure, and (2) address the state's budgetary problem by paying for other spending commitments. Limitation on the state's ability to make changes to the programs and revenues shifted to local governments in 2011, resulting in a more stable fiscal situation for local governments. (12-0009)

The proponent of this initiative, Thomas A. Willis, can be reached at (510) 346-6200.

For more information about how an initiative qualifies for the ballot in California, go to www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/how-to-qualify-an-initiative.htm.

Keep up with the latest California election news and trivia by following @CASOSvote on Twitter. To sign up for ballot measure updates via email, RSS feed or Twitter, go to www.sos.ca.gov/multimedia.

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