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Local Government Initiative Enters Circulation

State Funding to Local Governments. Criminal
Justice. Social Services. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

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:

STATE FUNDING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. CRIMINAL JUSTICE. SOCIAL SERVICES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Guarantees local governments their existing statutory allocations of state sales tax and vehicle license fees, to fund government services that were shifted from state to local responsibility in 2011. Continues guarantee as long as local governments have responsibility for shifted services. Prohibits legislation that increases scope of services shifted, unless state provides adequate, ongoing funds to pay for increased costs. Caps state obligation for actual costs of shifted services at amounts of guaranteed allocations. Requires four-fifths vote in Legislature to reduce local law enforcement mandates predating shift. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst of fiscal impact on state and local government: Limitation on the state's ability to change 2011 realignment, resulting in a more stable net fiscal situation for local governments. Decrease in Proposition 98 school minimum funding guarantee. Actual impact on school spending would depend on state decisions in balancing its annual budget. Summary of estimate by Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Limitation on the state's ability to change 2011 realignment, resulting in a more stable net fiscal situation for local governments. (11-0061.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1538 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 11-0061.

The proponent for this measure, Paul McIntosh, 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 – 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 May 29, 2012.

The initiative proponent can be reached at (916) 446-6752.

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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