Update 12-19-2013
Update 12-30-2013
Update 2-13- 2014 Final signature count to be announced February 24, 2014
Update 1-1-2015
 
AB 1266 - Transgendered Bathroom Law - Update 12-19-2013
 
The grassroots signature gathering drive against California's AB1266 Transgendered Bathroom law is officially over. More than enough signatures were gathered and they have been turned in to the county registrar of voters across California and the signature verification process is now underway.

However, a word of caution is in order. It can be misleading to say that more than enough signatures were gathered. Yes, the number of signatures was enough but the real question is, "Were there enough valid signatures gathered." Some folks aren't registered to vote but sign anyway. Some folks sign more than once. The list goes on for why signatures are declared invalid but the fact is that the signatures gathered are never all good. That is why it is vitally important to gather many more signatures than the minimum that are actually needed.

Many hours were spent by volunteers scrubbing (verifying) the petitions of obviously invalid signatures, never-the-less, the volunteers have no way to know if the signer is truly registered to vote or if they have signed twice or maybe even more.

So, as they say, time will tell whether enough "valid" signatures were gathered.
 
E-mail from the campaign Thursday afternoon 12-19-2013
 
Sacramento, CA-Privacy For All Students, the group challenging the implementation of AB 1266, California's co-ed bathroom law, filed suit against California's Secretary of State and the registrar of voters of two northern California counties today. 

PFAS claims that the Secretary of State is unfairly refusing to count any of the signatures presented to Tulare or Mono counties in support of a referendum to overturn the bathroom law.

The California Constitution provides voters with the right to vote to overturn a new law if the opponents of the law present 504,760 signatures of California registered voters on or before the 90th day following approval of the legislation by the Governor.  AB 1266 was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on August 12, 2013.  An appropriate number of signatures were required to be delivered by Sunday November 10, 2013.  Signatures to qualify a referendum are not presented in a central place, but rather must be presented to each of the 58 counties based on the residence of the signer.

While some counties made arrangements to accept signatures on the 90th day, a Sunday, others closed their offices early and refused delivery even before the 90th day. 

An overnight courier service attempted to deliver the signatures gathered in Tulare County to the Tulare County Registrar of Voters on the afternoon of the 88th day, Friday, November 8th.  But the Registrar's office closed early on this Friday before a three day weekend.  The courier then attempted to deliver the package of signatures to a worker in the County mail room, but was told to bring the package back for delivery on the following Tuesday, two days after the deadline.

In Mono County, the overnight delivery service placed the package in the mail slot at the County office on the 89th day, but County personnel did not return to their office and process the signatures until after the deadline.

In both Tulare and Mono, the Secretary of State is refusing to count any of the signatures from the citizens of those counties.

Gina Gleason, proponent of the referendum, expressed her confidence that the court would direct the Secretary of State to count the valid signatures from these counties.  "The Secretary of State has made clear her bias against this referendum in the multiple obstacles presented to PFAS over the last several months.  It is a shame that we have to ask the court to direct her to respect the thousands of registered voters in these two counties that signed petitions to qualify this referendum.  But we believe that the court will ask her to count these signatures, " said Gleason.

PFAS submitted nearly 115,000 more signatures than required.  The group believes that it has presented more than enough valid signatures if these are properly counted.

For more information about the referendum to overturn California's co-ed bathroom law, visit the PFAS web page at  www.privacyforallstudents.com 
 
Update 12/30/2013

It seems that proponents of the co-ed bathroom bill cannot wait to force boys and girls to share bathrooms, showers and locker rooms in California public schools. Many are acting as if referendum signatures were never presented in November and the new law will take effect tomorrow.  But that is not true.

Pacific Justice Institute explains the effect of the referendum signatures presented in November:

Co-ed Bathroom Bill Update:

Legislature Still Has To Hold It

Sacramento, CA--A referendum has put on hold a 37 word bill which would have opened up restrooms, locker rooms and showers in K-12 public schools to students "irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records."  Known as the Co-ed Bathroom Bill, Assembly Bill 1266 originally was due to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.  But voters in all 58 of California's counties have put on the brakes by submitting more than 600,000 signatures to the Secretary of State.

Under Article II, §9 of the California Constitution, the People have reserved to themselves their inherent power to review statutes enacted by lawmakers.  "The voters are essentially part of the legislative process," said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute.  "Through the referendum, they either approve or veto the law," Dacus continued.  

There has been some confusion about what constitutes a referendum.  By its nature, a referendum involves a law that has been passed by the Legislature, but not gone into effect.  Because the signatures have been filed, the implementation of the law is suspended until the final signature tally.  After that, the law will continue to lie dormant until the voters render their judgment in the November 2014 election.  
 
Update 2-13-2014

The final signature count for the AB 1266 referendum effort is to be announced February 24, 2014. If enough signatures were gathered to qualify the referendum against AB 1266 (the Transgendered Bathroom law) then the decision to keep this law or overturn it will go on the November 2014 ballot where the voters will have the chance to vote for or against this law.
 
Update 1-1-15

It is commonly believed that AB1266 has become the law in California and that schools must comply with its provisions; however, that is only partly true. AB1266 passed the state legislature and the referendum process began. Enough signatures were gathered but some of them were challenged and this is still working its way through the courts. Simply put, AB1266 is on hold and has not gone into effect as challenges from both sides work their way through the court.