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Tax Initiative Enters Circulation

Property Taxes. Expanded Exemption for
Disabled Veterans. 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, 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:

PROPERTY TAXES. EXPANDED EXEMPTION FOR DISABLED VETERANS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Allows the Legislature to provide full or partial property tax exemption for a home belonging to a disabled veteran or the veteran’s spouse, including an unmarried surviving spouse, if the veteran is receiving special monthly military disability compensation because of injury or disease incurred in military service, is blind in both eyes, has lost the use of two or more limbs, has brain syndrome, or died while on active duty. Exemption may not be combined with other real property exemptions. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Potential minor reduction in property tax revenues for local governments as a result of increased property tax exemptions for certain veterans with severe service-related disabilities. Potential minor increase in state spending on K-12 schools and community colleges as a result of the small property tax decline. (12-0002)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1580 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 12-0002.

The proponent for this measure, Rashid El Malik, 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 August 20, 2012.

The initiative proponent can be reached at (310) 465-1376.

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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