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AP15:097

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 19, 2015

CONTACT: Sam Mahood

(916) 653-6575

 

Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation

Public Assistance Benefits. Eligibility. Initiative Statute.

 

SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures yesterday. 

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 proponent and to the Secretary of State, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows: 

PUBLIC ASSISTANCE BENEFITS. ELIGIBILITY. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Requires adult applicants for public assistance benefits to have California driver’s license or identification card and child applicants to have birth certificate and social security card. Requires counties and the state to retain copies of such identification documents and monitor subsequent submissions. Requires certain beneficiaries to seek employment for the entire period during which that beneficiary is receiving benefits. Requires additional state and county steps to identify and facilitate employment for those beneficiaries. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Annual state and local savings, potentially in the hundreds of millions of dollars, from reduced caseloads in the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program and other public social services programs. Annual state and local costs at least in the tens of millions of dollars to implement a job placement program for CalWORKs recipients and administer additional documentation requirements. One-time state costs in the tens of millions of dollars for various changes to state information technology systems. (15-0064.) 

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1726 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0064. 

The proponent of the measure, Ted Hilton, must collect the signatures of 365,880 registered voters (five percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the November 2014 general election) in order to qualify it for the November 2016 ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials by May 16, 2016.  The proponent can be reached at P.O. Box 9985, San Diego, CA 92169. No phone number was provided.

 

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