Golden State Today

Sacramento, Calif. – Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., announced that an initiative became eligible for the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot on June 4, 2024.

To become eligible for the ballot, the initiative required 546,651 valid petition signatures, equivalent to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 General Election. A measure can qualify through random sampling if it projects more than 110 percent of the required valid signatures. The initiative needed at least 601,317 projected valid signatures to qualify by random sampling and has exceeded that threshold.

On June 27, 2024, the Secretary of State will certify the initiative as qualified for the November ballot unless withdrawn by the proponent before certification pursuant to Elections Code section 9604(b).

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

"PROVIDES PERMANENT FUNDING FOR MEDI-CAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Makes permanent the existing tax on managed health care insurance plans, currently set to expire in 2026, which the state uses to pay for health care services for low-income families with children, seniors, people with disabilities, and other groups covered by the Medi-Cal program. Requires revenues to be used only for specified Medi-Cal services including primary and specialty care, emergency care, family planning, mental health, and prescription drugs. Prohibits revenues from being used to replace other existing Medi-Cal funding. Caps administrative expenses and requires independent audits of programs receiving funding."

A summary by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance states: "Uncertain overall impact on state revenues and spending including reduced legislative flexibility over use of MCO tax funds. The extent of this impact depends on whether the measure would result in different state decisions around imposing structuring and spending proceeds from managed care organization tax than in absence of measure." (23-0024A1.)

The Secretary of State’s tracking number for this measure is 1966; the Attorney General's tracking number is 23-0024A1.