The list of ballot measures is now set. The challenges to the voter initiatives have been settled, and the language that’ll be on the ballot is settled. In all, there will be 10 propositions on your ballot. Eight were proposed by the legislature and 2 are voter initiatives.
Five of them are constitutional amendments including changes to how elections are handled, how voter initiatives need to be crafted (and the threshold needed to pass them), property tax exemptions, and one that creates the office of Lieutenant Governor. These are all 100 Series measures because they change the constitution. Here’s the ballot language for Propositions 128, 129, 130, 131, and 132. You can also view the propositions here.
There will be 3 legislative referrals on your ballot. These are 300-series propositions because they were referred to the ballot by the legislature that modify earlier voter initiatives. These are about allowing Dreamers graduating from AZ schools to get in-state tuition at public AZ colleges & universities, changing what’s required in order to vote, and modifying how rural fire districts are funded. These are Propositions 308, 309 and 310. You can view those propositions here.
There are 2 voter initiatives on the ballot, the Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act and the Voter Right to Know Act. The courts threw out the Free and Fair Elections Act because they said they were 1,500 short of the number of valid signatures it needed (the full supreme court ruling isn’t published yet). These will be Propositions 209 (Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act) and Prop 211, the Voter Right to Know Act (the attorney general hasn’t approved that ballot language yet).
So far, AZPHA has only taken a position on one of the measures… we are urging a Yes vote on Proposition 209: the Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act. The AZPHA Board will be deliberating whether to ask membership to endorse or oppose an additional 4 (and maybe 5) measures. Below are the write-ups that I submitted that’ll be in the voter publicity pamphlet. So far, these are only my opinions, not those of AZPHA.
View this fabulous summary of all 10 propositions including arguments for & against & disclosing who is supporting and opposing each measure. This is a must-see resource brought to you by Rachael Leingang & Hank Stephenson from the Arizona Agenda.
Initiatives
Vote YES On Proposition 209: The ‘Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act’
Vote for Transparency. Vote ‘YES’ On Proposition 211 the ‘Voters Right to Know Act’
Legislative Referendum
Vote the Golden Rule: YES on Prop 308
‘Proposition 310 May Save Your Life, Vote YES
‘Keep Your Power: Vote No on Proposition 132’
The Board will be reviewing Prop 210 (Voters Right to Know Act) and Propositions 308 (Dreamers), 310 (rural EMS), and 132 (supermajority for voter initiatives with a fee) to potentially ask membership to support 308 and 310 & oppose 132.
We’re also looking at whether we should oppose Prop 128, Prop 129, & Prop 309.
Prop 128 would allow the legislature to repeal voter-approved measures in its entirety if any part of the law is declared unconstitutional or ‘illegal’. Initiatives and laws are declared partially unconstitutional all the time. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the matching funds provision of the Arizona Clean Elections Act unconstitutional, but the broader law is still valid. If voters approve Prop 128, the legislature could scrap the whole Clean Elections Act with a simple majority vote.
Prop 129 would limit future voter initiatives to a single subject. That would eliminate initiative backers’ ability to propose initiatives that touch on several aspects of the law, as the Free and Fair Elections Act would have, and the Clean Elections Act did.
Proposition 309, a legislative referral born from SCR1012. This one would require identification to drop off your early ballot at an early voting site or Election Day polling place and require more proof that you are who you say if you mail back your early ballot.
Over the last several years, AzPHA has become an increasingly credible source of information for Arizona residents… as such, we can play an important role in informing the electorate about the potential public health impacts of the various voter initiatives and referenda (good and bad).