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"Californians for Affordable Prescriptions," has launched a campaign to qualify a California state ballot initiative to "allow seniors and low and middle income families to buy prescription drugs at the lowest available price in the state" and offer "real help to the millions of Californians who currently don't have access to affordable prescription medication."

The effort to qualify the ballot measure is "sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America California Initiative Fund," with "major funding provided by Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. Inc." "Major funding" is also "provided by Pfizer, Inc."

Californians for Affordable Prescriptions is sending copies of official ballot initiative petitions to registered California voters and urging them to sign and return them, saying that "we only have three short weeks to collect signatures on our petitions."

According to the cover letter accompanying the petition form, if the Cal Rx program is implemented through the initiative process "the average discount will be at least 40% off regular retail prices." The letter says that "Cal Rx will also make it easier for people to get access to new and existing free drug programs through the Internet and a toll-free phone number."

The cover letter goes on to say:

"Cal Rx is great news for everyone, including taxpayers. By increasing access to affordable prescription medicines, Cal Rx will significantly improve health care quality and lower overall healthcare costs. That is why Cal Rx is supported by a broad coalition of seniors, consumers, healthcare advocates and business groups."

You can take a look at the Cal Rx campaign cover letter from Californians for Affordable Prescriptions by clicking on Cal Rx page 1and Cal Rx page 2. (Click on the image, then click on the "enlarger" that appears in the lower right-hand corner to enlarge it to a readable size.)

You can listen to a recording of an automated call in support of the mass mailing of these cover letters and individual Cal Rx initiative petitions by clicking here.

For more about the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Alliance, and their support for Cal Rx, click on the title of the article "Drug companies' PAC gives big after Schwarzenegger's vetoes."

According to information posted as of April 12, 2005, on the Cal-Access web site maintained by the California Secretary of State, "Californians for Affordable Prescriptions, sponsored by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America California Initiative Fund," ("the official name of the committee, political party, or major donor as registered with the Secretary of State") has no "Contributions Received", no "Contributions Made", and no "Expenditures Made".

The Cal Rx initiative campaign cover letter recently sent out is signed by Kristine Yahn, R.N., Executive Director, Californians for Patient Care.

For some commentary about Kristine Yahn, and about Californians for Patient Care, click on the title of this piece, written by Lucia Hwang, on the web site of the California Nurses Association, "Not Up Front--Industry Hides Behind Patient Advocacy Group.".

In 2000, a proposal arose for "Smart Initiatives," on the theory that it would be more convenient, less costly, fairer, and more conducive to the serious consideration of proposed ballot initiatives, referendums, and recalls if the State of California would allow proponents of such measures to post them in their official form online and allow registered California voters to sign them there using "digital signatures," a cryptographic technology designed to allow Internet users to unambiguously and securely establish their identities online, instead of the then-current and contemporary system, in which mostly paid signature gatherers try to button-hole pedestrians-in-a-rush at mostly personally-inconvenient times and the likelihood of any particular piece of citizen-generated legislation being able to qualify for the ballot depends mostly (with some exceptions) on its ability to attract substantial funding from those individuals and organizations with the deepest pockets, ironically reversing the original intention of Hiram Johnson and the other Progressives who put the initiative, referendum, and recall into the California Constitution in 1911, at the height of the Progressive Era.

See, in this regard, the article "Schwarzenegger Wins Fundraising Case,", dated March 24, 2005, in which it says:

"SACRAMENTO—The state’s political watchdog agency incorrectly limited donations to funds controlled by elected officials and candidates, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge ruled in a decision that could blow wide open the amount of money spent in an upcoming special election."

Absent the institution of Smart Initiatives, signatures can still be collected "remotely" by mailing individual voters officially-formatted-and-sanctioned copies of paper ballot initiative petitions for them to sign and return to the sponsoring organization. This approach, which costs considerably more than letting registered voters digitally sign official online initiative petitions (disregarding the considerable start-up expenses of equipping millions of California voters with the personalized digital certificates needed to support online digital signing of electronic petitions), is being used by the proponents of the Cal Rx initiative.

To take a look at the four pages of the official initiative petition being circulated through the mail by Californians for Affordable Prescriptions, click on their page numbers: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4. (Click on the image, then click on the "enlarger" that appears in the lower right-hand corner to enlarge it to a readable size.)

A motivated and tech-savvy voter, equipped with a powerful printer, an unlimited supply of printer paper, and a lot of patience might even be able to eventually generate a legal facsimile of the Cal Rx initiative petition on a single sheet of paper from these .jpg files, which would then be fully eligible to be signed and mailed in.

To see where to mail completed Cal Rx initiative petitions, click on this image of the postage-paid return envelope provided by Californians for Affordable Prescriptions. (Click on the image, then click on the "enlarger" that appears in the lower right-hand corner to enlarge it to a readable size.)

Letting people sign even paper initiative petitions on an individual basis in the comfort of their homes and offices, as provided for by these Cal Rx mailings, can get somewhat tricky, in that these paper "petitions-for-one" need not only to be signed by the registered voter in his or her role as "signatory," but then signed by them again in their role as "circulator" of the petition.

The astute organizers of this effort are hip to this, as can be seen by their inclusion on the back of the return envelope of a facsimile "yellow sticky note," which gently asks each petition signer, "Did you sign the bottom of the petition a second time as Circulator?" (Click on the image, then click on the "enlarger" that appears in the lower right-hand corner to enlarge it to a readable size.)

They seem to have thought of everything, haven't they?