Existing law requires a state or local initiative, referendum, or recall petition to contain specified language advising the public of its right to ask whether the person circulating the petition is a paid signature gatherer or a volunteer and requires specified language to be printed across the top of each page of a referendum. Existing law also requires each section of a petition or paper submitted to an elections official to have an attached declaration that includes information about its circulator.
This bill, the Referendum Accountability Act of 2023, would:
- Require a specified disclosure notifying the public that the petition circulator is receiving money or other valuable consideration for the purpose of soliciting signatures, or that the person is a volunteer or employee of a nonprofit organization.
- Require the Secretary of State to design and administer a training program for petition circulators, as specified.
- Require paid petition circulators, and those paying them, to register with the Secretary of State, and it would also require a circulator’s unique registration number to be included in each section of the petition or paper submitted to an elections official.
- Require that a circulator lose registration status and be ineligible for registration for five years if the circulator is convicted of certain offenses or if a determination is made that the circulator violated any law relating to the circulation of a ballot measure petition, as specified. The bill would specify that petition signatures gathered by a petition circulator who is required to be registered, but who is not, are prohibited from being counted.
Existing law requires the Attorney General to prepare a circulating title and summary of the chief purposes and points of the proposed measure and regulates when a petition for a proposed initiative measure may be circulated. Under existing law, a petition with signatures for a proposed initiative measure must be filed with the county elections official not later than 180 days from the official summary date.
This bill would:
- Require initiative measures that propose to repeal or amend, either directly or indirectly, a statute or portion of a statute enacted by the Legislature that are submitted to the Attorney General within two years of the statute’s enactment be filed with the county elections official not later than 90 days from the official summary date.
- Require the Attorney General to make a determination of whether the proposed initiative measure is required to be filed within this timeframe.
Existing law requires each section of the petition to be filed with the elections official of the county or city and county for which it was circulated, as specified. Under existing law, the elections official is required to determine the total number of signatures affixed to the petition within 8 days after the filing, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to notify an elections official if the number of signatures filed with all elections officials is 100% or more of the number of qualified voters needed to declare the petition sufficient. Existing law requires an elections official to determine the number of qualified voters who have signed the petition within 30 days after the notification, as specified. Existing law requires an elections official to use a random sampling technique for verification of signatures if more than 500 names appear on sections of the filed petition.
This bill would:
- Require an elections official to determine the total number of signatures affixed to the petition within 10 days after the filing of the petition, as specified.
- Require an elections official to determine the number of qualified voters who have signed the petition within 35 days after notification, as specified.
- Require a second random sample of signatures be drawn from all petition sections submitted in the case of a specified proposed statewide referendum measure or statewide initiative measure.
Existing law requires the Secretary of State to order the examination and verification of the signatures filed if statistical sampling shows that the number of valid signatures is within 95 to 110% of the number of signatures of qualified voters needed to declare the petition sufficient. Existing law requires an elections official or registrar of voters to determine, within 30 days after receipt of the order, from records of registration the number of qualified voters who have signed the petition, as specified.
This bill would:
- Require that at least 10% of the required signatures on a petition or section thereof be circulated by a person who does not receive money or other valuable consideration exclusively or primarily for the specific purpose of soliciting signatures, as specified.
- Require the Secretary of State to order an examination and verification of each signature filed to satisfy this requirement if the statistical sampling shows that the number of valid signatures for all signatures submitted is more than 110% of the number of qualified voters needed to find the petition sufficient but the number of signatures needed to satisfy the above requirement is within 95 to 110%. The bill would extend to 35 days after receipt of the order the deadline to determine the number of qualified voters who have signed a section of the petition that is subject to examination.
