FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2023

Proposed Initiative Enters Circulation

Restricts Spending by Health Care Providers Meeting Specified Criteria.
Initiative Statute.
 

SACRAMENTO, CA – Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber announced that the proponent of a new initiative was cleared to begin collecting petition signatures on November 3, 2023.

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 a calendar of deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

RESTRICTS SPENDING BY HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS MEETING SPECIFIED CRITERIA. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Requires certain health care providers to spend 98% of revenues from federal discount prescription drug program on direct patient care. Applies only to health care providers that: spent over $100,000,000 in any ten-year period on anything other than direct patient care; and operated multifamily housing with over 500 high-severity health and safety violations. Penalizes noncompliance by revoking health care licenses and tax-exempt status. Permanently authorizes state to negotiate Medi-Cal drug prices on statewide basis. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Increased costs to state government, potentially up to the millions of dollars annually, to review entities’ compliance with the measure and enforce the measure’s provisions. These costs would be paid for by fees created under the measure. Uncertain fiscal impacts to state and local government health programs, depending on how the affected entities respond to the measure’s requirements. (23-0021A1.)

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1963 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 23-0021A1.

The proponent of the measure, Thomas Bannon, must collect signatures of 546,651 registered voters (five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 general election) in order for the measure to become eligible for the ballot. The proponent has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials no later than May 1, 2024. The address for the proponent is c/o Kurt R. Oneto, Nielsen Merksamer LLP, 1415 L Street, Suite 1200, Sacramento, CA 95814. The proponent may also be contacted at (916) 446-6752 and koneto@nmgovlaw.com.

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