65A - RPT - ACCEPT CERT OF SUFFICIENCY OF PETITION MEDICAL CANNABIS

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Initiative Petition - Accept Certificate of Verification of Signatures February 19, 2013 Page 2 On January 24, 2013, the proponents of the initiative petition submitted the signed petitions. The Office of the Clerk of the Council conducted a prima facie review and raw count of the petition and determined that there were sufficient number of signatures to proceed, 16,948 tallied. On January 25, 2013, the petition was submitted to the County of Orange Registrar of Voters for signature verification. The Registrar of Voters began the process of verifying a three (3) percent random sample of the signatures contained on the petitions. Based on this sample, the Registrar determined that of the 510 signatures examined, 397 were valid (77.8%) and 113 were invalid (22.2%). The Registrar projected that 13,240 signatures would be valid, or over the 110% of the required signatures necessary for the petition to be valid and qualify for the 2014 General Municipal Election. Therefore, the Orange County Registrar of Voters has certified the petitions submitted on behalf of the Medical Cannabis Restriction and Limitation Initiative to be sufficient and qualified (Exhibit 3). At the time that the Notice of Intention was filed, the voter registration report on file with the California Secretary of State indicated 109,155 registered voters within the City of Santa Ana city limits. To qualify for a Special Election, California Election Code § 9214 requires that an initiative petition be signed by at least fifteen percent (15%) of the total number of eligible registered voters, or 16,374. To qualify for the next General Municipal Election, California Election Code § 9215 requires that an initiative petition be signed by at least ten percent (10%) of the total number of eligible registered voters, or 10,916. The Clerk of the Council is required to bring the Certificate of Sufficiency to the City Council for approval at its next regularly scheduled meeting. The City Council must make a determination of how it will proceed within ten (10) days of notice of the certification. California Elections Code § 9215, provides that upon receipt of the Certificate of Sufficiency, the City Council is required to take one of the following actions: 1) Adopt Ordinance as proposed. Per California Elections Code §9215 (a), the Council may adopt the ordinance, without alteration, at the regular meeting at which the certification of the petition is presented, or within 10 days after it is presented. 2) Set the Matter for Voter approval at the next General Municipal Election. The proposed ordinance, without alteration, may be submitted by the Council to the voters at the next General Municipal Election. The regulations required for the Ballot Arguments, Rebuttals, and impartial analysis will be forthcoming to the City Council in Spring, 2014. 3) Direct Staff to prepare a report on the effect of the initiative. City Council may request staff to prepare a report on the effects of the proposed initiative on various City services and existing regulations. Upon presentation of the report, not later than 30 days after the sufficiency certification has been received, the City Council must adopt the ordinance or order an election. 65A-2