'3 STRIKES' FOES BEGIN CAMPAIGN TO REFORM LAW

Critics of California's "three strikes" law announced a campaign Wednesday
to reform the law, which locks up violent criminals for 25 years to life if
they commit any third felony.

The ballot measure would "mandate that any second or third felony must be
due to a serious or violent crime, and not someone taking a slice of pizza,"
co-author Jan Tucker said at a Los Angeles news conference.

The California Three Strikes Project Political Action Committee said it sent
documents Wednesday to the state attorney general's office so that an
initiative summary and a fiscal analysis can be prepared. After that, Tucker
said, supporters can begin collecting more than 419,000 voter signatures
needed to put it on the ballot.