AP16:008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2016
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 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:
MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Legalizes marijuana and hemp under state law. Designates State Board of Equalization and other state agencies to license and regulate marijuana industry. Applies general state retail sales tax to marijuana. Imposes additional state excise tax of 5% on retail sales of marijuana, to be collected by State Board of Equalization. Allows local taxes on retail sales up to 5%, and on annual cultivation up to $2 per square foot of plant canopy. Provides exemptions for medical marijuana and hemp. Allows local zoning regulations that do not ban retail sales or otherwise unreasonably restrict access to marijuana within the jurisdiction. 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. Net additional state and local tax revenues of up to several hundred million dollars annually related to the production and sale of marijuana, a portion of which would be required to be spent to reimburse state implementation costs and to benefit various programs including preschool education, environmental protection, and medical research. (15-0104.)
The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1763 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 15-0104.
The proponent of the measure, George W.M. Mull, 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 July 5, 2016. The proponent can be reached c/o Tackett Mull Nicolai, LLP, at (415) 445-2149.
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