AP15:079
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2015
CONTACT: Sam Mahood
(916) 653-6575
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation
Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.
SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla 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:
MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Legalizes marijuana under state law. Designates the State Board of Equalization to regulate and license the marijuana industry, including medical marijuana. Provides certain exemptions for medical marijuana patients and caregivers. Imposes 10% taxes on transactions at each of the producer, processor, and retailer stages, including for medical marijuana. Allows 25 square feet of cultivation and one ounce of possession for personal consumption by persons 21 and over. Permits local regulation and taxation of marijuana businesses. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Reduced costs ranging from tens of millions of dollars to potentially exceeding $100 million annually to state and local governments related to enforcing certain marijuana-related offenses, handling the related criminal cases in the court system, and incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders. Additional state and local tax revenues of potentially up to several hundred million dollars annually from taxes on the production and sale of marijuana, a portion of which is required to be spent on substance abuse education, prevention, research, and healthcare, and regulation of commercial marijuana activities. (15-0049.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1711 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0049.
The proponent for the measure, Alice A. Huffman, must collect the 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 April 25, 2016. The proponent can be reached at (916) 498-1898.
###
