There are a couple ways Propositions make it to the ballot. You’re probably most familiar with voter initiatives. Voters can mobilize an effort to get measures on the ballot. If it’s a regular law then the organizers need to turn in 10% of the number of registered voters to get it on the ballot. If it amends the state constitution, then they’d need to turn in 15%.

The state legislature has it a lot easier. They can pass any law they want with a simple majority of legislators (unless they’re amending a previous voter initiative – when they need a supermajority). The state legislature can’t change the state constitution on their own, but they can put a measure on the ballot without collecting any signatures at all- they just need to pass a resolution by a simple majority vote in both chambers.

The November ballot will have several ballot propositions. Three voter initiatives turned in more signatures than they needed, the Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act, Arizonans for Free and Fair Elections, and the Voters Right to Know Act. 

Three will also be several Propositions that the Legislature has referred to the ballot because they change the constitution. One would add a 0.1% sales tax to help rural fire districts. One would change the line of succession for governor to a Lieutenant Governor that would run on a joint ticket with the candidate for governor.

Another would require 60% of voters to approve any voter initiative that had any kind of tax or fee. Another referendum makes changes to what’s required for mail in ballots.

Thus far, AzPHA has only endorsed Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act. Here’s our argument that will be in the voter publicity pamphlet: Our Take: Vote YES On the ‘Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act’

It’s possible that we may, before the November election weigh in for or against some of the other measures. Our Board of Directors will be shedding more light on whether we do that in the coming weeks.

In the meantime- I wrote and turned in some arguments for the publicity on 5 additional Propositions in my private capacity (not as the executive director of AzPHA). You can see those here:

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