California Immigration Status Investigations (2012)

Not on Ballot
This measure was not put on an election ballot

A California Immigration Status Investigations ballot initiative (10-0023) was cleared for circulation for the state's 2012 ballot as an initiated state statute. The name given to the initiative by its supporters was the "Support Federal Immigration Law Act."

However, its sponsors did not submit signatures to election officials by their April 21, 2011 deadline and, as a result, the measure did not appear on the ballot.

Initiative 10-0023, if it had qualified for the ballot and been approved by the state's voters, would have required California's law enforcement officers to investigate the legal status of people they suspected were "in the country illegally."

Initiative 10-0023 was drafted by Michael Erickson. It was inspired by Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 but without some of the clauses that led a federal court in Arizona to put a stay on enforcement. Erickson was once a member of the Republican Party of California's executive committee.

Tim Donnelly, a Republican member of the California State Assembly introduced a similar bill in the state legislature.

Text of measure

See also: Ballot titles, summaries and fiscal statements for California 2012 ballot propositions

Ballot title:

Makes It a Crime for Undocumented Persons to Seek Work While Concealing Their Immigration Status and Also Makes It a Crime for Any Employer to Hire an Undocumented Person Intentionally or Negligently. Initiative Statute.

Official summary:

"Requires all highway patrol, police, sheriffs and other sworn officers to investigate immigration status when they are reasonably suspicious that a person stopped is in the country illegally. Authorizes legal residents to sue any official or agency that adopts or implements policies that limit immigration enforcement, and specifies a $5,000 per day fine and attorneys' fees for violations."

Summary of estimated fiscal impact:

See also: Fiscal impact statements for California's 2012 ballot propositions

(This is a summary of the initiative's estimated "fiscal impact on state and local government" prepared by the California Legislative Analyst's Office and the Director of Finance.)

"Potentially significant cost savings in services provided to undocumented immigrants by state and local governments and reductions in state and local revenue to the extent this measure reduces the number of undocumented immigrants in the state. The net impact of this factor is unknown. Increased costs to the state and local criminal justice system, potentially exceeding tens of millions of dollars annually, from the arrest, prosecution, and detention of violators of the provisions of the measure."

Path to the ballot

As a proposed initiated state statute, supporters of the Immigration Status Investigations initiative would have had to collect 433,971 valid signatures. The circulation deadline was April 21, 2011.

External links

• Full text of 10-0023
• Support Immigration, website in favor

Footnotes

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This article about a California ballot proposition is a sprout.