Opponents of bail repeal law say they have signatures

SACRAMENTO — Opponents of a law phasing out cash bail in California said Thursday they were on the verge of at least putting the law on hold until the 2020 election. But the office of SB 10’s author said the referendum could still fail to qualify despite supporters turning in far more signatures than required.

The California Secretary of State’s office announced Tuesday it had completed its raw count of signatures. Each county has until Jan. 17 to verify a random sample of valid signatures to show whether the measure is likely to qualify for the ballot.

“This order prevents SB 10 from taking legal effect until voters are given the opportunity to weigh in on the referendum — which would appear on the November 2020 ballot,” said Jeff Clayton, a spokesperson for Stop SB10, the referendum coalition.

Not so fast, said a spokesperson for Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys. The spokesperson pointed to a page on the Secretary of State’s website showing an early random count was failing to verify many signatures.

Stop SB10 announced on Nov. 20 it had turned in 576,745 signatures. However, the raw count of signatures reported by the Secretary of State on Tuesday showed 538,262 signatures.

This difference could be crucial. The referendum needs 365,880 valid signatures to qualify.

If the current random sample shows the campaign is likely to have at least 110 percent of this number verified, or 402,468 signatures, the referendum qualifies. If that samples shows less than 95 percent of the required number are likely to be verified, 347,586 or less, it automatically fails.

As of Wednesday, the random sample reported so far showed a 73 percent validity rate. This would work out to 392,931 signatures though the numbers represent a tiny fraction of the total to be reported.

At this level, “counties would be required to perform a full check of signatures” and report the results within 30 days, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

SB 10 passed the Legislature after months of contentious debate. It would phase out cash bail beginning with the pretrial assessment process, starting in October 2019.

Topo Padilla, president of the Golden State Bail Agents Association, has said statewide the industry employs 3,200 licensed bail agents and 3,000 support staff.