AP15:056
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2015
CONTACT: Sam Mahood
(916) 653-6575
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation
Ferrets. Legalization as Pets. Initiative Statute.
SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla today announced the proponent of a new initiative may begin collecting petition signatures.
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:
FERRETS. LEGALIZATION AS PETS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Legalizes the possession, importation, and transportation of pet ferrets. Requires all pet ferrets over six months old to be vaccinated against rabies annually, and all ferrets sold as pets in retail stores to be spayed or neutered before sale. Authorizes counties to impose license fee up to $100 on purchasers of ferrets as pets, to pay costs of local animal control enforcement. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Likely additional local government costs of a few million dollars annually for animal control enforcement activities, which could be largely or entirely offset by the license fees authorized by the measure. (15-0034.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1697 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0034.
The proponent for the measure, Pat Wright, must collect signatures of 365,880 registered voters (five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2014 general election) in order to qualify it for the November 2016 ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials by February 9, 2016. The proponent can be reached at cliffnotes@legalizeferrets.org. No phone number was provided.
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