CMA Board of Directors Votes Unanimously to Oppose Ballot Proposition 211; Large Grass Roots, Lobbying and PR Effort to Defeat Measure to Follow.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 1996--At their Annual Summer Board Meeting in Monterey, Calif. last week, CMA board members voted unanimously to oppose November ballot Proposition No. 211 -- the liberalization of securities liability measure sponsored by San Diego lawyer Bill Lerach.

The board members then directed the association "to make the campaign to defeat this anti-business measure one of the highest priorities for the fall."

"This proposition is an affront to California business and will allow out-of-state lawyers to descend upon California's courtrooms in a frenzy of securities lawsuits all aimed at gouging our state's high-tech industry," said former state senator and president of CMA, William Campbell. "Our organization and the hundreds of companies we represent are prepared to defeat this proposition that is no less than a litigious bomb set by the trial lawyers, waiting to go off."

Proposition 211 is the November ballot initiative drafted under the guise of being a safety net for those who have retirement programs that engage in securities trading.

A closer look shows that the initiative would open a loophole in current California law that would liberalize current standards for filing a lawsuit against corporate heads, and allow out-of-state lawyers to file suits here in California under the same loophole.

CONTACT: California Manufacturers Association, Sacramento

Jeff Gorell, 916/498-3315