Uninsured Motorists Initiative enters circulation

Petition includes enforcement and penalties

SACRAMENTO — Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced January 11 that the proponent of a new initiative, Stephen L. Poizner, may begin collecting petition signatures for his measure.

Poizner must collect signatures of 433,971 registered voters – the number equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2006 gubernatorial election – in order to qualify it for the ballot.

The Attorney General prepares the legal title and summary that is required to appear on initiative petitions. When the official language is complete, the Attorney General forwards it to the proponent and to the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State then provides calendar deadlines to the proponent and to county elections officials and the initiative may be circulated for signatures. The Attorney General’s official title and summary for the measure is as follows:

Uninsured Motorists. Enforcement and Penalties. Statute.

Requires police officers issuing citations for failure to provide proof of insurance to also remove the vehicle’s license plates unless doing so would be dangerous or contrary to the interests of justice.

Requires owners of vehicles with removed plates to obtain insurance within seven days or be subject to impoundment.

Requires Highway Patrol Commissioner to adopt regulations and legislature to appropriate sufficient money to implement Act.

Eliminates an exemption from the obligation to provide proof of insurance that would have applied to residents of Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2011.

Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: potential state and local law enforcement costs of several million dollars annually on a statewide basis. Ongoing state administrative costs of potentially several million dollars annually, partly offset by fee revenues. Potential, unknown increase in state tax revenue from vehicle insurance purchased by motorists. (Initiative 07-0086.)

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1317 and the Attorney General’s tracking number is 07-0086.

The proponent has 150 days to circulate petitions for this measure, meaning the signatures must be collected by June 9.

Poizner can be reached at (916) 446-6752.