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Ballot Measures:
initiative measures; legislative council review

Our Position: oppose
Bill Number: HB2441
Sponsor: Adams
Legislative Session: 2007 Legislative Session

The bill requires anyone who is filing an initiative to submit it to the Legislative Council so they can hold a public hearing and muck around with it.  The Legislative Council staff generally does a good job with their current responsibilities, but the Legislative Council itself (made up of legislators) has already messed up the process for drafting an impartial analysis for initiatives.  These analyses have resulted in numerous lawsuits after Legislators have successfully included biased language in the analysis.  There is no reason to think this process would be any different and would only give the Legislature, already hostile to many of these measures, another shot at undercutting citizen efforts.

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Action Needed

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Background

The initiative and referendum process in some form is older than our country itself — it dates back to the 1600's when via town meetings, communities voted on ordinances and other issues.  The authors of the Arizona Constitution thought it was important to provide citizens with the initiative and referendum process to provide a check on the legislative branch and also to check the widespread corruption involving big business and its monopolies during this time.

The trend over the last several years has been for the Arizona Legislature to try and restrict citizens' rights to initiatives and referenda.  In 2000, the Legislature referred a measure that would have required a two-thirds vote on any wildlife measure.  The voters rejected that proposal overwhelmingly (62-38).  Over the years, there have been bills to require people who circulate petitions to wear badges to indicate if they are paid or volunteer, bills to require a certain percentage of signatures from each county, and bills to require payment for invalid signatures.

While no one wants to see wealthy interests like Howie Rich’s Americans for Limited Government, come in and buy elections in Arizona via a ballot measure, the limitations you are considering will not address that.  They will only make it more difficult for grassroots organizations, small organizations, and the larger public to participate via this important process.  We encourage the Legislature to reject these measures and to instead sit down with those who have worked on measures – from all over the political spectrum – and discuss some legitimate areas to improve.