AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 2, 2026
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 26, 2026
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
97
Introduced by Senator Reyes
February 20, 2026
An act to amend Sections 101 and 11220 of the Elections Code, relating to elections.
Vote: majority Appropriation: no Fiscal committee: no Local program: no
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
(1) Existing law requires a state or local initiative, referendum, or recall petition that is required to be signed by voters to contain specified notices, including a notice that the petition may be circulated by a paid signature gatherer or volunteer.
This bill would additionally require the paid signature gatherer to orally disclose to each person, before providing the petition for the person’s signature, that they are being paid to circulate the petition.
(2) Existing law requires a recall petition for a local officer to be submitted to the elections official within a specified number of days after the clerk notifies the proponents that the form and wording of the petition comply with certain requirements. The number of days depends upon the number of registered voters in the electoral jurisdiction.
For the recall of a superior court judge, this bill would instead require the petition to be submitted within 80 days after the clerk notifies the proponents, regardless of the number of registered voters in the electoral jurisdiction. 120 days if the electoral jurisdiction has 50,000 registered voters or more.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 101 of the Elections Code is amended to read:
101.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a state or local initiative, referendum, or recall petition required to be signed by voters shall contain in 11-point type, before that portion of the petition for voters’ signatures, printed names, and residence addresses, the following language, in order:
(1) “NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC:”. This text shall be in a boldface type.
(2) If the petition includes the disclosure statement described by subdivision (b) of Section 107, the text “SIGN ONLY IF IT IS THE SAME MONTH SHOWN IN THE OFFICIAL TOP FUNDERS OR YOU SAW AN “OFFICIAL TOP FUNDERS” SHEET FOR THIS MONTH.” This text shall be in a boldface type.
(3) “THIS PETITION MAY BE CIRCULATED BY A PAID SIGNATURE GATHERER OR A VOLUNTEER. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK.” This text shall be in a non-boldface type.
(b) A state initiative petition shall contain, in the same location and type size described in subdivision (a), the following language in a non-boldface type: “THE PROPONENTS OF THIS PROPOSED INITIATIVE MEASURE HAVE THE RIGHT TO WITHDRAW THIS PETITION AT ANY TIME BEFORE THE MEASURE QUALIFIES FOR THE BALLOT.”
(c) Notwithstanding paragraph (3) of subdivision (a), a paid signature gatherer shall orally disclose to each person, before providing the petition for the person’s signature, that they are being paid to circulate the petition. The paid signature gatherer shall make this disclosure regardless of whether the person asks if the signature gatherer is being paid.
SEC. 2.
Section 11220 of the Elections Code is amended to read:
11220.
(a) A recall petition shall be submitted to the elections official for filing in their office during normal office hours as posted within the following number of days after the clerk or, in the case of a recall of a state officer, the Secretary of State, notifies the proponents that the form and wording of the petition meets the requirements of Article 3 (commencing with Section 11040) of Chapter 1:
(1) Forty days if the electoral jurisdiction has less than 1,000 registered voters.
(2) Sixty days if the electoral jurisdiction has less than 5,000 registered voters but at least 1,000.
(3) Ninety days if the electoral jurisdiction has less than 10,000 registered voters but at least 5,000.
(4) One hundred twenty days if the electoral jurisdiction has less than 50,000 registered voters but at least 10,000.
(5) One hundred sixty days if the electoral jurisdiction has 50,000 registered voters or more.
(6) Notwithstanding paragraph (5), one hundred twenty days if the electoral jurisdiction has 50,000 registered voters or more and the recall is for a judge of the superior court.
(b) For purposes of this section, the number of registered voters shall be that which was reported at the last report of registration by the county elections official to the Secretary of State pursuant to Section 2187 and prior to a finding of the elections official or Secretary of State that no alterations are required in the form of the recall petition pursuant to Section 11042.