The initiative has entered its 3rd phase. Post the Finances was officially given title and summary by the State Attorney General's office today, see below.

This means that signatures can now be gathered. We are currently updating our Post the Finances Web site to solicit volunteers and contributions, and to gather signatures for the petition online and offline. The target is 373,816 signatures by February 25, 2004. This will ensure that the initiative is placed on the November 2004 ballot. We are looking forward to welcoming individuals and groups of any kind such as: civic groups, churches, unions, and so forth to help us gather the signatures.

The budget of California for 2003-04 is $98.9 billion. Even if Post the Finances results in a saving to the California taxpayers of 1 percent, this would save nearly a billion dollars. A saving of a mere 0.5 percent, through a reduction in waste, fraud and mismanagement, would be two and half times the initial cost of implementing the measure (see the fiscal impact estimate below).

STATE REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES. INITIATIVE STATUTE.

Requires each state agency, at the end of each business day, to post on its website:

(1) relevant names, dates and amounts of every check, credit card or cash transaction, or other agency expenditure; and (2) revenue sources, including, but not limited to, taxes and fees, and the date, amount of revenue, and fund into which the revenue is deposited. The Controller in consultation with the Treasurer and Department of Finance shall create guidelines and procedures to standardize the postings in the form of a checkbook register. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments.

This measure would have the following major state fiscal effects:

Potential one-time costs of over $200 million and annual costs in the tens of millions of dollars for the development, implementation, maintenance, and use of a new data collection and reporting system.