State Feed: Arizona

Arizona Citizen Lynne Weaver Honored for Work to Protect State Initiative Process

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:03:18 -0500

(LAKE RIDGE, VA) – Today, Citizens in Charge Foundation, a national voter rights group focused on the ballot initiative and referendum process, presented Arizona citizen Lynne Weaver with the November 2010 Lilburne Award. Lynne is being honored this month for her work opposing Arizona Proposition 112, a legislatively referred ballot measure that would have reduced the petition period in Arizona.

Arizona: Property tax reduction effort still underway

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:36:33 -0400

The head of a ballot initiative campaign to reduce Arizona property taxes says the effort will go down to the wire. Lynne Weaver is chairwoman of the Prop 13 Arizona campaign. She said Thursday that supporters are still collecting voter signatures to put the measure on the ballot and likely won’t file petitions until right before the July 1 filing deadline.

Read the story from KSWT 13

Arizona: Sales tax initiative signatures turned in

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:34:37 -0400

Supporters of a citizen-initiated half-cent sales tax increase submitted 470 signatures on Monday to have the question put on the November ballot. Before it can be officially placed on the ballot, the county will need to verify that at least 396 of the signatures are valid. The initiative calls for allocating one-quarter-cent sales tax to fund construction of a new library and one-quarter-cent to fund construction of long-awaited ball fields, amenities and infrastructure on the Town’s 118-acre park site off State Route 260 and McCracken Lane.

Arizona: Immigration initiative needs thousands of signatures a day

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:25:42 -0400

A small grassroots organization seeking to put Arizona’s strict new illegal immigration law on the ballot is optimistic but faces the daunting task of collecting about 7,500 signatures a day by July 1. The organization, Compassion for All, must collect 153,365 valid signatures in less than a month to qualify for the November ballot. Organizers took out petitions for their ballot initiative on May 24, a month after Gov. Jan Brewer signed S1070.

Arizona: First Navajo ballot initiative validated

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:36:47 -0400

Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. scored two legal victories Friday when the tribe’s Supreme Court ruled that an election to reduce the Tribal Council properly passed, and a council vote to place him on leave was invalid. Navajos voted overwhelmingly in December to reduce the council from 88 members to 24 and give the president line-item veto authority. Tim Nelson, a Navajo voter from Leupp, challenged the council reduction, saying it should not have passed without a majority vote in each of the tribe’s 110 precincts.

Arizona: City Council approves resolution in support of possible November initiative

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:19:33 -0400

The Hemet City Council weighed in on a couple of political issues this week, taking a stand in support of a ballot initiative and instructing the staff to prepare a resolution in support of Arizona’s immigration law. Mayor Eric McBride proposed the resolution of support for the Arizona law in part to put a positive voice into the debate over the controversial measure. “They’re getting a lot of bad press about it,” he said.

Read the story from The Valley Chronicle

Citizens' Rights Safe in Many States as State Legislatures End Sessions

Tue, 18 May 2010 14:23:59 -0400

Of the 45 states whose legislatures hold sessions in 2010, 27 of them have adjourned for the year, and 5 more will wrap up before the end of the month. Of the more than 80 bills dealing with the initiative and referendum process in various states, 51 of them would have reduced citizens’ initiative rights. Thanks to the work of activists in our coalitions, only 3 bills reducing citizen’s rights have passed and become law.

Voters in Oregon and Arizona to Decide on Tax and School Spending Measures

Tue, 18 May 2010 10:50:56 -0400

In Arizona’s first statewide special election since 1980, voters will decide today whether to raise the state sales tax by 1¢. Farther north, Oregon voters will decide whether to allow the state government to issue bonds to match local school district bonds as well as whether to authorize state spending on higher education. Both state’s ballot questions were referred by the state legislatures.

Arizona: Local citizens take to the polls on sales tax vote

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:38:51 -0400

It is, after all, a numbers game. Three seats to fill; four vs. two; one cent, or one percent, if you prefer. And the numbers – your votes – in the end, won’t lie. Tuesday, May 18 marks yet another day at the polls for voters in Maricopa, the state of Arizona, and nationwide.

Read the story from the Maricopa Moniter

Arizona: Referendum effort on immigration law dropped

Tue, 11 May 2010 11:29:14 -0400

The two proposed referendum drives challenging Arizona’s new sweeping law targeting illegal immigration are being abandoned, organizers said Monday. Andrew Chavez, a professional petition circulator involved in one of the efforts, said its backers pulled the plug after concluding they might not be able to time their petition filings in such a way as to put the law on hold pending a 2012 public vote.

Read the story from The Associated Press

Two Referendum Efforts Targeting Controversial Arizona Immigration Laws Dropped

Mon, 10 May 2010 15:30:32 -0400

Two separate efforts to bring Arizona’s controversial new immigration law to a public vote have been scrapped, according to the Washington Post.

Arizona Legislature Ends Session Without Passing Any More Petition Bills

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:11:10 -0400

Arizona’s legislature adjourned for the year last night without passing any more anti-initiative bills. Yesterday I told you about a constitutional amendment to reduce the time to collect signatures by two months that will appear on the state’s November ballot.

Arizona Legislature Will Ask Voters to Give Up Some of Their Petitioning Time

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:57:52 -0400

Not a single member in either house of the Arizona legislature voted against sending a constitutional amendment to the November 2010 ballot that would reduce the amount of time citizens have to collect signatures on a petition. It will now be up to Arizona voters to decide if they want to give up 60 of the 620 days they have to collect signatures on a petition.

Arizona: Effort to put new immigration law on ballot

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:26:19 -0400

A former Phoenix City Council candidate took the first steps Monday to have the fate of the new law aimed at illegal immigrants decided by Arizona voters. Jon Garrido picked up the necessary paperwork at the Secretary of State’s office to refer the measure, just signed by Gov. Jan Brewer, to the ballot. Garrido needs just 76,684 valid signatures by late July — the exact date is currently in flux — to put the question to voters.

Read the story from the East Valley Tribune

Arizona: "Wealth tax" possible to pay for health care for poor

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:21:48 -0400

Hospitals want all Arizona voters to approve higher taxes on the richest of them to help pay for health care for the needy. An initiative drive to be launched this week proposes a surcharge on income greater than $150,000 a year for individuals and $300,000 for couples. Right now the top state income tax rate is 4.54 percent. So someone with an adjusted taxable gross income of $225,000 owes the state $10,215.

Read the story from the Verde Independent

Arizona: Voters could make hunting constitutional right

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:55:12 -0400

The House voted 37-18 Wednesday to put a constitutional right to hunt and fish in the Arizona Constitution. Backers of HCR 2008 say the measure is designed to deter special interests from proposing ballot measures which would limit the ability to hunt, either by restricting the methods available or by deciding that certain species should not be hunted. That happened more than a decade ago when an initiative successfully banned the use of steel-jawed leghold traps.

Read the story from the East Valley Tribune

Arizona: Senate votes to tax, if voters legalize marijuana

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:51:53 -0400

Proposed legislation that would tax medical marijuana - if voters legalize it this fall - narrowly passed the state Senate on Thursday thanks to a split among Republicans. The bill passed with a vote of 17-12 after five Republicans, including Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, supported it. It now goes to the House for consideration.

Read the story from The Arizona Republic

Arizona: 3 ballot measures given preliminary approval

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:26:03 -0400

The House on March 23 gave preliminary approval to a trio of measures that would ask voters to lengthen legislative terms, temporarily suspend protections of some spending and give lawmakers control of billions of dollars of federal money. The push for longer legislative terms would make for more effective legislators, said Rep. Andy Tobin, a Republican from Paulden and the sponsor of HCR2017. The measure would change legislative terms from two years to four years, beginning with those lawmakers taking the oath of office in January 2011.

Arizona: Marijuana measure for Arizona voters

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:16:08 -0400

What happened to a Wal-Mart worker in Michigan who was fired for testing positive for marijuana probably could not happen in Arizona if voters approve a ballot measure in November. The initiative would allow doctors to essentially prescribe marijuana to patients who are suffering from any one of a specific set of conditions. It also would allow creation of a network of nonprofit shops that would sell marijuana to those who have those prescriptions and let those not within 25 miles of a shop to grow their own.

Arizona: Signatures on petition public in state

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:54:00 -0400

A U.S. Supreme Court case that will be argued next month could end up restricting the public’s right to see who has signed initiative petitions in Arizona and other states. The case comes out of Washington state, where supporters of an effort to overturn a law permitting domestic partnerships sued the state to keep the names on petitions secret. As in Arizona, a certain number of valid petition signatures is required to put issues on the ballot.