January 18, 2018 - SACRAMENTO – Secretary of State Alex Padilla has announced the proponents of a new initiative were cleared to begin collecting petition signatures.

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:

AMENDS THREE STRIKES SENTENCING LAW FOR REPEAT OFFENDERS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Revises the three strikes law to impose a life sentence with possibility of parole only when the third or subsequent conviction is for a violent felony, unless the new offense is a specified sex- or firearm-related crime, or a prior offense was for rape, child molestation, or murder. Requires resentencing of inmates currently serving life with possible parole if they would have received different sentences under this measure. Applies savings to schools, colleges, prison rehabilitation programs, and youth crime prevention programs. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Net state criminal justice system savings that would likely be in the high tens of millions of dollars initially and could eventually exceed $100 million annually. State savings from the measure would be spent on education, inmate rehabilitation, and youth crime prevention programs. Increased county costs that could exceed $10 million annually, primarily due to increased county community supervision populations. (17-0046.)

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1842 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 17-0046.

The proponents of the measure, Thomas R. Loversky and Victoria Johnson, 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 proponents have 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, meaning the signatures must be submitted to county elections officials no later than July 16, 2018. The proponents can be reached at (888) 245-9393.
Source: CA. SOS