BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           2524 (Evans)
          
          Hearing Date:  08/02/2010           Amended: 06/21/2010
          Consultant:  Maureen Ortiz      Policy Vote: ER&CA 3-1
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:  AB 2524 revises the procedure for submitting an  
          initiative before the voters beginning July 1, 2011.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2010-11      2011-12       2012-13     Fund
                                                                  
          SOS admin costs                             ------up to $100  
          annually-----------             General
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the  
          Suspense file.
          The Secretary of State indicates the need for one Associate  
          Governmental Program Analyst to post the initiatives on the Web  
          site and monitor the public comments, and notes that during the  
          last year, there have been 80 initiatives approved for  
          circulation.

          Specifically, AB 2524 does the following:

          a)Requires the Attorney General, before preparing a circulating  
            title and summary for an initiative measure, to forward it to  
            the Secretary of State.
          b)Requires the Secretary of State to post the initiative on its  
            Internet Web site for a period of 30 days during which time  
            the public would be allowed to post comments concerning the  
            measure.
          c)Requires comments posted by the public to remain for 90 days  
            after the initiative is first posted.
          d)Permits the proponents of the measure to direct the Attorney  
            General (AG), no less than 30 days or more than 120 days after  
            it is posted, to prepared a circulating title and summary of  
            the measure either as originally drafted or as revised, or to  
            post a revised measure on the Secretary of State's Internet  










            Web site for an additional 30 day period for comments.

          The bill specifically provides that its provisions do not alter  
          or expand the existing duties or authority of the Secretary of  
          State regarding the substance of the proposed initiative  
          measures, and allows the SOS to post an advisory on his or her  
          Internet Web site informing the public that its comments are  
          nonbinding and that proponents of initiatives will not be  
          required to incorporate any suggestions offered.

          Existing law requires the proponents of a proposed initiative to  
          submit the text of the proposed measure to the AG requesting  
          that a title and summary be prepared prior to circulating the  
          petition for signatures.  The AG is required to provide a copy  
          of the circulating title and summary to the SOS within 15 days  
          after receipt of the final version of the measure, or within 15  
          days after receipt of the fiscal estimate from the Department of  
          Finance or the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) if  
          required.