Proponents of the initiative failed in their effort to gather enough signatures to get it on the June 2006 statewide ballot.
[1] Backers described the proposal as necessary to assist the U.S. Border Patrol's enforcement of federal immigration laws.
[2] They then introduced it as an initiative proposal and had until December 12, 2005 to collect approximately 600,000 valid signatures of registered California voters in order to qualify the measure for the ballot.
Proponents of the measure argued that the initiative was necessary to address the rate of illegal immigration to California and its strain on state resources.
[2] The chairman of the "California Border Police Committee," the official entity responsible for raising funds and making expenditures on behalf of the proposed initiative, was Assembly Member Haynes.