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Secretary of State Debra Bowen Assigns Number to
New November Ballot Measure; Invites Ballot Arguments

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that a seventh proposition, an advisory vote on the United States Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, will appear on the November 4 General Election ballot and invited interested Californians to submit arguments to be considered for inclusion in the Secretary's Official Voter Information Guide.

The statutory deadline for placing legislative and initiative measures on the ballot was June 26. However, the Legislature and the Governor may choose to waive the law and place measures on the ballot after the statutory deadline has passed, which they did with the advisory vote.

Elections Code section 13115 sets the order in which the measures must appear on the ballot. Legislative bond measures are first, followed by legislative constitutional amendments, other legislative measures, citizen initiative measures, and referenda. Measures are listed within their category in the order in which they qualified. Measures placed on the ballot after the statutory deadline - and after numbers have been assigned to the propositions that qualified for the ballot on time - may not follow the numbering order set out in the Elections Code.

The seventh proposition for the November ballot is listed below with the Legislative Counsel's digest of the measure.

Proposition 49

Campaign finance: advisory election. SB 1272, Lieu.

This bill would call a special election to be consolidated with the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. The bill would require the Secretary of State to submit to the voters at the November 4, 2014, consolidated election an advisory question asking whether the Congress of the United States should propose, and the California Legislature should ratify, an amendment or amendments to the United States Constitution to overturn Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) 558 U.S. 310, and other applicable judicial precedents, as specified. The bill would require the Secretary of State to communicate the results of this election to the Congress of the United States. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an act calling an election.

People may submit arguments for or against any measure. Arguments selected for the Official Voter Information Guide will be on public display between July 22 and August 11. If multiple arguments are submitted for one proposition, state law gives first priority to arguments written by legislators in the case of legislative measures, and first priority to arguments written by proponents of an initiative or referendum in such cases. Subsequent priority for all measures goes to bona fide citizen associations and then to individuals. No more than three signers are allowed to appear on an argument or rebuttal to an argument.

Ballot arguments cannot exceed 500 words and rebuttals to ballot arguments cannot exceed 250 words. All submissions should be typed and double-spaced. Arguments may be hand-delivered to the Secretary of State's Elections Division at 1500 11th Street, 5th Floor, Sacramento, California 95814; faxed to (916) 653-3214; or emailed to VIGarguments@sos.ca.gov. If faxed or emailed, the original documents must be received within 72 hours. The deadline to submit ballot arguments is July 18 by 5:00 p.m. The deadline to submit rebuttals to the ballot arguments is July 21 by 5:00 p.m.

To view past state voter guides, go to www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/voter-information-guides.htm.

Keep up with the latest California election news and trivia by following @CASOSvote on Twitter.

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