Attorney General Rob Bonta isn’t fighting fair, Jonathan Zachreson, of Protect Kids California, said on Washington Watch Tuesday.
Protect Kids needs roughly 400,000 signatures just to get the measure on the ballot and faces a May 28 deadline to get it done.
The group is also seeking a deadline extension when it appeals the decision of a Sacramento Superior Court judge who last week ruled in favor of Bonta’s name change of the measure.
When the paperwork was presented, Protect Kids entitled its measure “Protect Kids of California Act of 2024.”
Bonta, under his legal authority, changed the name of the initiative to “Restrict Rights of Transgender Youth.”
'Made up' ballot language
California law requires that a ballot initiative’s title be factual, cover the chief points, and not be prejudicial.
Zachreson, said Bonta’s name change shows bias and his summary of the ballot initiative is factually incorrect.
“(Bonta) included language in the summary that is just made up, which said our measure did not have any exceptions for student safety," Zachresson advised. "In fact, that does exist in the law, and we had no changes to that."
In his ruling, the judge denied the word "restricts" is biased, Zachreson also said.
“Other attorney generals in the past have done this, and it ultimately led to the (failed) outcome," Zachreson told Washington Watch. "The fact that this actually has false information in the title and summary, I think, is unprecedented.”
Zachreson, a school board trustee at Roseville City School District, founded the group Reopen California Schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. He co-founded Protect Kids California to fight the anti-girls and anti-parent transgender movement.
Bonta, who is serving a second term as attorney general, has emerged as a prominent political enemy of California's outnumbered Republicans and conservatives. After winning re-election in 2022, he has used his office to investigate and then sue the Chino Valley Unified School district over its parental-rights notification policy. He is also suing Heartbeat International, the pro-life group, for offering the abortion pill reversal pill to pregnant women.
Bonta’s office did not respond to a request for comment from OrangeCountyLawyers.com.
The ballot initiative has three goals:
- Repeal the California law that permits male students to compete in girls’ sports and to be present in locker rooms and bathrooms.
- Require parent notification when a child seeks to “transition” to the other sex during school hours and to prevent teachers and staff from secretly aiding a transition.
- To stop gender-manipulation surgeries and chemical treatments.
Polling looks promising – if it is on ballot
Polling from different sources about the three individual questions is promising. It show that 68% support parental notification from schools; 64% say a player’s biological sex should match that of his team’s; and 75% say gender-manipulation surgeries and procedures should be allowed only for people over 18 years old.
“There’s been subsequent polling, and all of it supports that even in California, the average voter – including Democrats – would support this measure," Zachreson said. "It’s really just a fringe few who happen to have control of our legislature that are driving these policies in California."
So there is a good chance, he concluded, that California voters would vote to change those policies in November.
