AP15:108
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2015
CONTACT: Sam Mahood
(916) 653-6575
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation
Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.
SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced the proponents of a new initiative were cleared to begin collecting petition signatures today.
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. Creates office and commission to license and regulate marijuana industry. Imposes state taxes of $2 per square foot of marijuana cultivation, $1 to $15 per ounce of marijuana production, 10% of retail sales price for edible marijuana products and concentrated extracts, and 5% for other retail sales. Imposes additional 5% local tax on retail sales. Exempts medical marijuana from some taxation. Provides for collection of taxes by State Board of Equalization. Authorizes resentencing and destruction of records for prior marijuana convictions. Allows limited local regulation of marijuana. Eases state restrictions on industrial hemp farming. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Net 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 potentially ranging from the high hundreds of millions of dollars to over $1 billion annually related to the production and sale of marijuana, most of which would be required to be spent for specific purposes such as education, environmental protection, marijuana-related research, and substance use treatment. (15-0075.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1735 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0075.
The proponents of the measure, Dale Sky Jones, Alice A. Huffman, and Larry Bedard, 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 proponents have 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials by June 6, 2016. The proponents can be reached at (510) 251-1544.
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