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Constitutional Convention Initiative Enters Circulation

Federal Constitutional Convention. Initiative Statute.

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponent of a new initiative may begin collecting petition signatures for his 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. The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials, and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Attorney General's official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Finds California environmental and other public benefit laws have been effectively nullified by the federal government. Directs the California Legislature to request that Congress call a federal constitutional convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution. Requires California's delegate to the convention to be determined by general election after televised public debate. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: No direct fiscal impact, as any effect would depend on decisions of other states, members of the constitutional convention, and future federal and state elected officials. (11-0003.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1480 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0003.

The proponent for this measure, Christopher A. Brown, must collect signatures of 504,760 registered voters – the number equal to five 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 September 26, 2011.

The initiative proponent can be reached at P.O. Box 61925, Santa Barbara, California 93160. 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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