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AP15:085

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 30, 2015

CONTACT: Sam Mahood

(916) 653-6575

 

Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation

Nuclear Power. 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: 

NUCLEAR POWER. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Extends statutory preconditions, currently applicable to new operation of any nuclear powerplant, to existing Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Before further electricity production at any plant, requires California Energy Commission to find federal government has approved technology for permanent disposal of high-level nuclear waste. For nuclear powerplants requiring reprocessing of fuel rods, requires Commission to find federal government has approved technology for nuclear fuel rod reprocessing plants. Both findings are subject to Legislature’s rejection. Further requires Commission to find on case-by-case basis facilities will be available with adequate capacity to reprocess or store powerplant’s fuel rods. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Potential impacts on state and local finances in the form of decreased revenues and increased costs due to possible electricity price increases and state liabilities. The magnitude of these impacts are uncertain, but could be significant, depending in part on the need for system upgrades for replacement power and whether the state is liable for investment losses. Potential avoidance of major future state and local government costs and lost revenues in the rare event of a major nuclear power plant incident. (15-0055.) 

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1717 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0055. 

The proponent of the measure, Ben Davis, Jr., 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 April 26, 2016.  The proponent can be reached at (916) 833-7894. 

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