June 22, 2024 - Sacramento, Calif. – Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. announced that an initiative became eligible for the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot on June 21, 2024.

In order to become eligible for the ballot, the initiative needed 546,651 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 General Election.

A measure can become eligible via random sampling of petition signatures if the sampling projects that the number of valid signatures is greater than 110 percent of the required number. The initiative needed at least 601,317 projected valid signatures to become eligible by random sampling, and it has exceeded that threshold today.

On June 27, 2024, the Secretary of State will certify the initiative as qualified for the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot, unless it is withdrawn by the proponent prior to certification pursuant to Elections Code section 9604(b).

The Attorney General's official title and summary of the measure is as follows:

EXPANDS STATE HEALTH CARE PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH CERTAIN MEDICAL CONDITIONS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Expands California Children’s Services Program, which provides health care to low-middle income children under 21 with specified medical conditions, by requiring state to provide:

• - financial assistance to families not eligible for Program services for certain out-of-pocket treatment costs for covered conditions;
• - new annual grants to hospitals that provide Program services;
• - increased payment rates for physicians that are at least the federal Medicare rate; and
• - coverage for additional medical conditions including cancer, heart disease, certain infectious diseases, and cerebral palsy that are currently covered only by regulation, not by statute.

Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: State General Fund cost potentially ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars to around a billion dollars each year to assist families with the cost of health care for children with qualifying serious and chronic diseases, as well as to increase payments to providers in the California Children’s Services program. (23-0029A1)

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1971 and the Attorney General's tracking number is 23-0029A1.

The proponent of the measure is Ann-Louise Kuhns. They can be reached c/o Richie Ross at (916) 441-1995 and richie@richieross.com.

For more information about how an initiative qualifies for the ballot in California, visit https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/how-qualify-initiative/.
Source: CA. SoS