Arizona’s constitution says state laws don’t go into effect until 90 days after the end of a legislative session – unless the law contains an emergency clause and is approved by a supermajority of the legislature.
One of the reasons for the delay is to allow for a time period for voters to gather signatures to stop implementation of a law and refer it to the ballot.
For example, voters referred a universal school voucher bill to the ballot where it was resoundingly defeated. In 2022, the Legislature passed it again, but the referral effort failed to gather enough signatures to make it to the ballot, and we now have a universal voucher program that will be a primary reason why the upcoming legislative session will be so challenging (the voucher program is way over budget and has pushed Arizona into a deficit).
Hundreds of policy changes became law in Arizona last Monday. Here’s where you can See the Slide Deck summarizing bills related to public health.