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Four Initiatives Related to
Government Officials Enter Circulation

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponent of four 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:

STATE AND LOCAL LEGISLATION AND POLICIES. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Prohibits candidates for office, government officials, and government advisors from giving themselves exemptions from legislation they pass or policy decisions they make, and from giving themselves special benefits by legislation or policy decision. Applies retroactively to all legislation not enacted by majority popular vote. Creates new state agency to monitor proposed laws and policies for compliance and to enforce penalties, including imprisonment, fines, forfeiture, and ineligibility for public office. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Increased state or local government costs to administer a new oversight agency, potentially in the tens of millions of dollars annually. (11-0029.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1506 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0029.

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

GIFTS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. DISQUALIFICATION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Prohibits candidates for office, government official, judges, arbitrators, and government advisors from voting on, deciding, or influencing any matter of government business that would disproportionately benefit themselves or any individual or entity that has given them an excessive contribution. Defines excessive contribution as any amount exceeding a 40-hour week’s pay at federal minimum wage. Creates new state agencies to monitor compliance and impose penalties, including vote nullification, forfeiture of contributions, salary, and retirement and other benefits, and ineligibility for public office, and to distribute seized assets among registered voters. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Increased state or local government costs to administer two new oversight agencies, potentially totaling $700 million annually. Potential additional fiscal effects depending on how the provisions of the measure are interpreted by the courts and implemented. (11-0030.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1507 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0030.

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

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. PERSONAL LIABILITY. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Requires candidates for office, government officials, and government advisors to use personal funds to pay any damages and their own legal expenses arising from claims of unscrupulous behavior. Defines unscrupulous behavior to include negligence, ethics violations, direction to subordinates that is contrary to or expands beyond existing law, breach of contract, and unfulfilled campaign promises. Imposes penalties for unscrupulous behavior, or for improper use of public funds to defend against claims of unscrupulous behavior, including imprisonment, fines, forfeiture, punitive damages, nullification of unscrupulous acts, and ineligibility for public office. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Potential increase in state and local government costs in the range of millions of dollars annually. (11-0031)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1508 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0031.

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

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. RETIREMENT BENEFITS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Limits retirement benefits for candidates for office, government officials, and government advisors, to the benefits provided to workers at lowest benefit level in same agency. Limits basis for calculation of such retirement benefits to years of service with government agency in which last served. Applies retroactively to any retirement benefits government officials set for themselves, unless enacted by majority popular vote. Imposes penalties for actions contrary to its terms, including forfeitures and ineligibility for public office. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Possible reductions in state and local pension and retiree health costs. The magnitude of the savings would depend on a variety of legal and implementation uncertainties and would be offset to an unknown extent by increases in other state and local employee compensation costs. (11-0032.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1509 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0032.

The proponent for these measures, Larry Click, 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 – 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 March 8, 2012.

The initiative proponent did not provide public contact information.

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