BILL NUMBER: AB 436	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Saldana

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2009

   An act to amend Section 9004 of the Elections Code, relating to
elections.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 436, as introduced, Saldana. Elections: initiatives.
   Existing law requires that the proponents of an initiative measure
submit a draft of the measure to the Attorney General for
preparation of a summary of its chief purposes and points. Under
existing law, the proponents are required to also submit at that time
a $200 fee that is held in trust and refunded to the proponents if
the measure qualifies for the ballot within a specified time period,
but the fee is paid to the General Fund if the measure fails to
qualify.
   This bill would increase that fee to $2,000 and would specify
that, if deposited into the General Fund, the fee be used to
reimburse the Attorney General for its costs in preparing the title
and summary of proposed initiative measures. The bill would require
that the Attorney General annually review the fee and increase it in
accordance with an increase in the California Consumer Price Index.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 9004 of the Elections Code is amended to read:
   9004.   (a)    Upon receipt of a draft of a
petition, the Attorney General shall prepare a summary of the chief
purposes and points of the proposed measure. The summary shall be
prepared in the manner provided for the preparation of ballot titles
in Article 5 (commencing with Section 9050), the provisions of which
in regard to the preparation, filing, and settlement of titles and
summaries are hereby made applicable to the summary.  The

    (b)     The  Attorney General shall
provide a copy of the title and summary to the Secretary of State
within 15 days after receipt of the final version of a proposed
initiative measure, or if a fiscal estimate or opinion is to be
included, within 15 days after receipt of the fiscal estimate or
opinion prepared by the Department of Finance and the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee pursuant to Section  9005.

    If   9005. If  during the 15-day
period, the proponents of the proposed initiative measure submit
amendments, other than technical, nonsubstantive amendments, to the
final version of the measure, the Attorney General shall provide a
copy of the title and summary to the Secretary of State within 15
days after receipt of the amendments.
    (c)    The proponents of  any 
 an  initiative measure, at the time of submitting the
draft of the measure to the Attorney General, shall pay a fee of two
 hundred   thousand  dollars 
($200)   ($2,000)  , which shall be placed in a
trust fund in the office of the Treasurer and refunded to the
proponents if the measure qualifies for the ballot within two years
from the date the summary is furnished to the proponents. If the
measure does not qualify within that period, the fee shall be
immediately paid into the General Fund of the state  for
reimbursement of the costs incurred by the Attorney General for
preparing the title and summary of proposed initiative measures. The
Attorney General shall annually review the amount of the fee required
by this subdivision and shall increase it in an amount equaling any
increase in the California Consumer Price Index as determined
pursuant to Section 2212 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.  .