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Two Energy-Related Initiatives Enter Circulation

SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Debra Bowen today announced that the proponent of two 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, 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 first measure is as follows:

NUCLEAR POWER. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Extends statutory preconditions, currently applicable to new operation of any nuclear powerplant, to existing Diablo Canyon plant. Before further electricity production at any plant, requires California Energy Commission to find federal government has approved technology for permanent disposal of high-level nuclear waste. For nuclear powerplants requiring reprocessing of fuel rods, requires Commission to find federal government has approved technology for nuclear fuel rod reprocessing plants. Both findings are subject to Legislature’s rejection. Further requires Commission to find on case-by-case basis facilities will be available with adequate capacity to reprocess or store powerplant's fuel rods. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Potential impacts on state and local finances in the form of decreased revenues and increased costs due to possible electricity price increases and state liabilities. The magnitude of these impacts are uncertain, but could be significant, depending in part on the need for system upgrades for replacement power and whether the state is liable for investment losses. Potential avoidance of major future state and local government costs and lost revenues in the rare event of a major nuclear plant incident. (13-0009.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1599 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 13-0009.

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

ELECTRICITY. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Establishes publicly-owned California Electrical Utility District to provide electric service, replacing most investor-owned utilities, such as PG&E, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, and Bear Valley Electric. Exempts publicly-owned electric utilities, unless they voluntarily elect to join. Requires the District be divided into 11 wards, approximately equal in population. Establishes an 11 member board of directors—one member per ward—each elected for 4-year terms. Grants the District the power to acquire property, construct facilities necessary to supply electricity, set electricity rates, impose taxes, and issue bonds. Fiscal impact:It is the opinion of the Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance that the measure would result in a substantial net change in state and local finances.(13-0010.)

The Secretary of State's tracking number for this measure is 1600 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 13-0010.

The proponent for these measures, Ben Davis, Jr., 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 the measures, meaning the signatures must be collected by February 10, 2014.

The initiative proponent can be reached at (916) 833-7894.

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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