SACRAMENTO Jan. 12, 2010 – Secretary of State Debra Bowen today certified the first initiative for the June 8, 2010, Direct Primary Election ballot. It would require local governments to obtain the approval of two-thirds of voters before providing electricity to new customers or expanding such service to new territories if any public funds or bonds are involved.

The qualification of this initiative, along with the three measures already placed on the ballot by the legislature, brings the total number of June ballot measures to four so far. The last day to qualify a measure for the June statewide ballot is January 28.

In order to qualify for the ballot, the initiative needed 694,354 valid petition signatures, which is equal to eight percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2006 gubernatorial election. The initiative proponent submitted 1,121,944 signatures in an attempt to qualify the measure, and it qualified through the random sample signature check.

County elections officials have 30 working days to verify the validity of the signatures filed with their offices using a random sampling method. The state Elections Code requires county elections officials to verify 500 signatures, or three percent of the number of signatures filed in the county, whichever is greater. Counties receiving fewer than 500 petition signatures are required to verify all the signatures filed in their elections offices.

A measure can qualify via random sampling, without further verification, if the sampling projects a number of valid signatures greater than 110 percent of the required number. This measure needed at least 763,790 projected valid signatures to qualify by random sampling, and it exceeded that threshold today.

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

NEW TWO-THIRDS VOTE REQUIREMENT FOR LOCAL PUBLIC ELECTRICITY PROVIDERS. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Requires local governments to obtain the approval of two-thirds of the voters before providing electricity to new customers or expanding such service to new territories if any public funds or bonds are involved. Requires same two-thirds vote to provide electricity through a community choice program if any public funds or bonds are involved. Requires the vote to be in the jurisdiction of the local government and any new territory to be served. Provides exceptions to the voting requirements for a limited number of identified projects. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: Unknown impact on state and local government costs and revenues, depending on future voter decisions, due to the measure's potential effects on electricity rates and publicly owned utility operations. (09-0015.)

The proponent of this initiative is Robert Lee Pence. He can be reached at (415) 389-6800.

For more information about how an initiative qualifies for the ballot in California, go to www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballot-measures/initiative-guide.htm.