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AP19:067

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 20, 2019
CONTACT:
SOS Press Office
(916) 653-6575

Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation

Requires Monetary Bail. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

SACRAMENTO, CA - Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures on Thursday, September 19, 2019.

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:

REQUIRES MONETARY BAIL. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Amends state Constitution to require that monetary bail be included as a means to obtain release from jail before trial, except when arrested for specified crimes excluded under current law (i.e., capital crimes, certain felonies involving violence, sexual assault, or threat of great bodily harm). Amends state Constitution to add definition of “bail” as cash, state or federal bonds, real property, or bond posted by a licensed bail agent on behalf of a licensed surety company. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: If voters uphold the state’s pending pretrial release process, unknown net fiscal effect on state and local governments related to changes in pretrial release proceedings and the supervision of released individuals. Likely reduction in local government costs, that could reach the low tens of millions of dollars annually, from a reduction in the number of individuals or amount of time they spend detained in county jail prior to trial. If voters reject the state’s pending pretrial release process, unknown fiscal effect on state and local governments. Fiscal effect would depend on whether the Legislature chooses to establish a new pretrial release process as authorized by this measure and how such a process would function, as well as whether the Legislature could have otherwise established such a process under preexisting authority. (19-0006.)

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1867 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 19-0006.

The proponent of the measure, Thomas W. Hiltachk, must collect signatures of 997,139 registered voters (eight percent of the total votes cast for Governor in the November 2018 general election) in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials no later than March 17, 2020. The proponent can be reached at (916) 442-7757. Their address is 455 Capitol Mall, Suite 600, Sacramento, CA 95814.

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