Politics

California

Petition to overturn Trans Rights law waiting on LA County results to move forward

By Brody Levesque | SACRAMENTO -- A spokesperson for the California Secretary of State confirmed Wednesday that advancement to the next phase in the process in a proposed voter referendum petition to overturn California's Student Success and Opportunity Act, is waiting on the random sampling survey from the Board of Elections of Los Angeles County. The remaining 57 counties have reported and under state law any ballot referendum must meet a 95 percent signature authentication to trigger a full count. The spokesperson acknowledged that as of 9 AM Wednesday morning, the petition was short of the necessary 479,522 required signatures by a count of 98,829 with today at 5 PM being the final deadline.

Should Los Angeles County results meet or exceed the required amount, then based on the statewide random sampling, the next phase is a full count. If the results from LA County fall short of the 98, 829 required, then the ballot referendum petition would.

The proponents of the petition process, the Privacy for All Students, a coalition of conservative groups, must meet a threshold of 504,760 which would automatically qualify a referendum for the November ballot asking voters to invalidate the new law. The law would also be suspended until the referendum is set before voter this coming November.

The law, which took effect on Jan. 1 and is the first of its kind in the nation, requires public schools to let children use the sex-segregated facilities and participate in the gender-specific activities that correspond with their expressed identities.

Supporters maintain it is needed to provide statewide consistency and civil rights protections at a time when students are identifying as transgender at younger ages. Opponents argue that it exposes the classmates of transgender youth to potentially uncomfortable situations in restrooms and on sports teams.