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AP19:007

For Immediate Release
January 16, 2019
Contact:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

New Referendum Qualified for California's November 2020 Ballot

Referendum to Overturn a 2018 Law that Replaced Money Bail System With a System Based on Public Safety Risk.

SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla today announced that a referendum has qualified for the November 3, 2020, General Election ballot.

In order to qualify for the ballot, the referendum needed 365,880 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2014 General Election.

A referendum can qualify via random sampling of petition signatures if the sampling projects a number of valid signatures greater than 110 percent of the required number. The initiative needed over 402,468 projected valid signatures to qualify by random sampling, and it exceeded that threshold today.

The Attorney General's official title and summary of the referendum is as follows:

REFERENDUM TO OVERTURN A 2018 LAW THAT REPLACED MONEY BAIL SYSTEM WITH A SYSTEM BASED ON PUBLIC SAFETY RISK. If this petition is signed by the required number of registered voters and timely filed, a referendum will be placed on the next statewide ballot requiring a majority of voters to approve a 2018 state law before it can take effect. The 2018 law replaces the money bail system with a system for pretrial release from jail based on a determination of public safety or flight risk, and limits pretrial detention for most misdemeanors. (18-0009)

The proponent of this initiative is Thomas W. Hiltachk. The proponent can be reached at (916) 442-7757.

For more information about how a referendum qualifies for the ballot in California, visit https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/referendum/

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