Initiatives: paid circulators.

Existing law regulates the process of proposing initiative measures to the people and sets forth qualifications for persons who circulate initiative petitions in the state. This bill would require a professional petition firm, as defined, that pays petition circulators to gather signatures for state or local ballot initiatives to register with the Secretary of State and pay a registration fee to be established by the Secretary of State. The bill would require the Secretary of State to use the fees collected to maintain a directory of professional petition firms on its Internet Web site, as well as to defray costs associated with these requirements. This bill would require a member of the firm to brief petition circulators on the relevant law regarding circulation of petitions as a condition of hiring and to submit to the Secretary of State a statement signed by each petition circulator and the member who conducted the briefing that the petition circulator has received the briefing, as well as the training materials provided to the petition circulator in connection with the briefing.