California is a big state. To get a proposal on the ballot you need professional signature gatherer. They charge by the signature. According to BallotPedia Cost Per Required Signature (CPRS), fancy, in California was $6.20 per signature in 2016. When you submit to the State, the State will have to verify every single signature. They are not going to do that for free. They will charge you on top of the $6.20 per signature. Also, if you need 1M signatures to get on the ballot, you will probably need to submit at least 1.25M signatures. Because on average, 15% of those signatures will be unverifiable.