UPDATED 4/16 WITH NEW FIGURES: This should be the first of what I hope will become a regular feature on the blog: reports on the opaque California signature market, with actual figures on how much initiative sponsors are paying gatherers for each signature they collect. The per-signature amount is crucial information -- but little known -- because it determines the priorities of the individual signature gatherers. You pay more, they'll put your petition on top of their clipboards. High signature prices, however, also can be a sign that an initiative is weak. Sponsors have to pay more because their initiative has little time to qualify or involves a complicated subject that is hard to explain in a grocery store parking lot.

Here's my rundown on per-signature costs gleaned from a weekend of talking with signature gatherers in Southern California. I'm not specifying exactly where I talked to gatherers to protect their anonymity. I'd like to do this not only for California but also for other states. I'd love to hear from signature gatherers around the country.

SCHWARZENEGGER REDISTRICTING MEASURE: $2 per signature (gatherers in Orange County said they were expecting it to go higher). It's now tied for the honor of being the best-paying petition in the market, and was on the top of the clipboards of most gatherers. The rise in the price is an indication that time is running short and that, reapportionment is a tough sell in parking lots. Many gatherers I encountered were trying to stop shoppers with talk of the victims' right measure--then moving them into the reapportionment measure.

VICTIMS RIGHTS: $2. It was a little late getting to the street, gatherers say, but this initiative, backed by the billionaire Henry Nicholas and other crime victim's advocates, establishes a long list of rights for crime victims and is doing brisk business. Several gatherers believe it has enough to qualify; gatherers were being told Monday to turn in their signatures on the measure by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

ALTERNATIVE FUELS MANDATE: $1.50.  (UPDATE 4/16: This went to $1.90 or $2 on Tuesday, gatherers say)Sponsors of this initiative say they've turned in signatures, but I found several gatherers still carrying it. Gatherers send it did well even at a lower price of 75 cents.

ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE: $1.40 or $1.50. I had some trouble finding it on clipboards in Los Angeles County, which isn't terribly surprising, but it was on clipboards in Orange County and in the Inland Empire. Its price had recently been raised.

STILL LINGERING: Lower on clipboards was another crime measure and a parental notifrication measure. Gatherers said they were paying $1 each.