AP16:077
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2016
CONTACT: Sam Mahood
(916) 653-6575
New Measure Eligible for California's November 2016 Ballot
Death Penalty. Initiative Statute.
SACRAMENTO - Secretary of State Alex Padilla today announced that an initiative is eligible for the November 8, 2016, General Election ballot.
In order to become eligible for the ballot, the initiative needed 365,880 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2014 General Election.
An initiative 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 initiative needed at least 402,468 projected valid signatures to qualify by random sampling, and it exceeded that threshold today.
On June 30, 2016, the Secretary of State will certify the initiative as qualified for the November 8, 2016 General Election ballot, unless the proponent withdraws the initiative prior to that date pursuant to Elections Code section 9604(b).
The Attorney General's official title and summary of the initiative is as follows:
DEATH PENALTY. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Repeals death penalty as maximum punishment for persons found guilty of murder and replaces it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Applies retroactively to persons already sentenced to death. States that persons found guilty of murder and sentenced to life without possibility of parole must work while in prison as prescribed by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Increases to 60% the portion of wages earned by persons sentenced to life without the possibility of parole that may be applied to any victim restitution fines or orders against them. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Net reduction in state and local government costs of potentially around $150 million annually within a few years due to the elimination of the death penalty. (15-0066.)
The proponent of this initiative is Mike Farrell. The proponent can be reached at (415) 243-0143.
For more information about how an initiative qualifies for the ballot in California, go to http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/how-qualify-initiative/.
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