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Sixth Measure Qualifies for November California Ballot

SACRAMENTO - California Secretary of State Debra Bowen today certified a sixth measure for the November 6, 2012, General Election ballot. The measure increases criminal penalties for human trafficking, and joins five other measures already on the November ballot:

• A water bond measure, which was placed on the ballot by the Legislature;
• A political contribution measure, which qualified through the initiative process;
• An auto insurance measure, which qualified through the initiative process;
• A measure to repeal the State Senate District maps, which qualified through the referendum process; and
• A measure to repeal the death penalty, which qualified through the initiative process.

In order to qualify for the ballot, the anti-trafficking initiative needed 504,760 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2010 gubernatorial election. A measure can qualify via random sampling of petition signatures if the sampling projects a number of valid signatures greater than 110 percent of the required number. The anti-trafficking initiative needed at least 555,236 projected valid signatures to qualify by random sampling, and it exceeded that threshold today.

County elections officials have 30 working days to verify the validity of the signatures filed with their offices using a random sampling method. The state Elections Code requires county elections officials to verify 500 signatures or three percent of the number of signatures filed in the county, whichever is greater. Counties receiving fewer than 500 petition signatures are required to verify all the signatures filed in their elections offices.

The Attorney General's official title and summary of the initiative is as follows:

HUMAN TRAFFICKING. PENALTIES. SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Increases criminal penalties for human trafficking, including prison sentences up to 15-years-to-life and fines up to $1,500,000. Fines collected to be used for victim services and law enforcement. Requires person convicted of trafficking to register as sex offender. Requires sex offenders to provide information regarding Internet access and identities they use in online activities. Prohibits evidence that victim engaged in sexual conduct from being used against victim in court proceedings. Requires human trafficking training for police officers. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Potential one-time local government costs of up to a few million dollars on a statewide basis, and lesser additional costs incurred each year, due to the new mandatory training requirements for certain law enforcement officers. Minor increase to state and local governments on the costs of incarcerating and supervising human trafficking offenders. Unknown amount of additional revenue from new criminal fees, likely not to exceed the low millions of dollars annually, which would fund services for human trafficking victims .(11-0059)

The proponent of this initiative, Daphne Phung, can be reached at (510) 346-6200.

For more information about the initiative process and history in California, go to www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/initiative-guide.htm.

Keep up with the latest California election news and trivia by following @CASOSvote on Twitter. To sign up for ballot measure updates via email, RSS feed or Twitter, go to www.sos.ca.gov/multimedia.

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