Print Version (PDF)

State and Local Spending Initiative Enters Circulation

State and Local Spending. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponent of a new initiative may begin collecting petition signatures for his 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 proponent and to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent 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:

STATE AND LOCAL SPENDING. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Changes how the state spending limit is calculated and places a total limit on spending. Reduces annual cost of living adjustment to spending limit. Allocates excess state revenue to repayment of bonds and closing of education funding gap, a new reserve account, and a new school and roadway construction fund, rather than to schools and reducing tax rates. Caps sale of certain state bonds. Allows state to spread out mandated payments to local agencies. Suspends protections for local government employees and retirees if unfunded by state. Prohibits local government expenditures from exceeding revenues. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Revised spending limit likely would constrain state spending below levels that otherwise would have occurred. Also, over time the percentage of the state budget devoted to education expenses likely would increase, and the percentage devoted to most other areas likely would decrease. The measure would also likely increase the level of state resources going to the state reserves, payment of certain debts, infrastructure spending, and tax rebates. Possible reduction in the amount of new bond debt that could be sold to fund infrastructure projects, particularly in the short-term. (11-0006.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1482 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0006.

The proponent for this measure, Jon Coupal, must collect signatures of 807,615 registered voters – the number equal to eight percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2010 gubernatorial election – in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponent has 150 days to circulate petitions for this measure, meaning the signatures must be collected by October 17, 2011.

The initiative proponent can be reached at (916) 442-7757.

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

###