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Three Labor-Related Initiatives Enter Circulation

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponent of three new initiatives may begin collecting petition signatures for his measures.

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 first measure is as follows:

ELIMINATES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS FOR TEACHERS, NURSES, POLICE OFFICERS, FIREFIGHTERS, AND OTHER PUBLIC EMPLOYEES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Eliminates collective bargaining rights for teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees. Prohibits state and local public agencies from recognizing any labor union or other employee association as a bargaining agent of any public employee. Prohibits state and local public agencies from collectively bargaining with public employee unions or employee associations. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Potential state and local government employee compensation savings. The amount of savings would depend on future compensation decisions by state and local governments. (11-0020.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1500 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0020.

The Attorney General's official title and summary for the second measure is as follows:

INCREASES INCOME TAXES ON TEACHERS, NURSES, POLICE OFFICERS, FIREFIGHTERS, AND OTHER PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FOR PENSION INCOME. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Increases income tax rate by 15% for annual pension income between $100,000 and $149,999, and 25% for annual pension income over $150,000, on income received by teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Possible increase in state revenues from a new tax on certain public employee pensions. Over the long run, these revenue gains would be offset by decreases in other state and local revenues and increases in some state and local costs. (11-0021.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1501 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0021.

The Attorney General's official title and summary for the third measure is as follows:

INCREASES RETIREMENT AGE FOR TEACHERS, PEACE OFFICERS, AND OTHER PUBLIC EMPLOYEES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.Increases the minimum retirement age to 65 (or 58 for sworn public safety officers) for members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, including for teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: In the long run, possible reductions in state and local pension and retiree health costs. The magnitude of the savings would depend on a variety of legal, implementation, and behavioral uncertainties and would be offset to an unknown extent by increases in other state and local employee compensation costs. (11-0022)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1502 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0022.

The proponent for these measures, Alan Oliver Ebenstein, must collect signatures of 807,615 registered voters – the number equal to eight percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2010 gubernatorial election – for each measure in order to qualify it for the ballot. The proponent has 150 days to circulate petitions for these measures, meaning the signatures must be collected by February 3, 2012.

The initiative proponent can be reached at (805) 682-9815.

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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