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DB12:066
June 7, 2012

Contact: Shannan Velayas
(916) 653-6575

Property Tax Initiative Enters Circulation

Eliminates Property Tax Exemptions for
Religious Use. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponent of a new initiative may begin collecting petition signatures for the 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, 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:

ELIMINATES PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS FOR RELIGIOUS USE. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Eliminates property tax exemptions based on property's use for religious worship or other religious purposes, commencing on January 1, 2013. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Annual local government revenue increase of roughly $225 million from property taxes levied on religious property. State General Fund savings in most years of roughly $100 million from increased local property tax revenues for school and community college districts. (12-0012)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1584 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 12-0012.

The proponent for this measure, Jo Shaffer, 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 November 2, 2012.

The initiative proponent can be reached at P.O. Box 836, Cobb, California 95426. No phone number was provided.

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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