AP16:042
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2016
CONTACT: Sam Mahood
(916) 653-6575
Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation
Healthcare Decision-Making. Initiative Statute.
SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced the proponent of a new initiative was 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:
HEALTHCARE DECISION-MAKING. INITIATIVE STATUTE. States that healthcare decisions for adults are their private decisions, and that healthcare decisions for minors are private decisions for their parents or legal guardians. Prohibits discrimination in areas of public rights and benefits, business services, or employment based on a person’s healthcare choices, unless person has certain illnesses, has lost his/her civil rights due to a criminal conviction, or has an addiction to any substance. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Highly uncertain fiscal effects on state and local governments, as these depend on how broadly the measure is interpreted by the courts. Potential fiscal effects could therefore range from minor to significant, but indeterminate, costs on state and local governments. (15-0123.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1782 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0123.
The proponent of the measure, Mitchell J. Pearce, 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 ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials by August 30, 2016. The proponent can be reached at (408) 293-3883 and drpearce@betterhealer.com.
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