Arizona Proposition 129, Single-Subject Requirement for Ballot Initiatives Amendment (2022)
Arizona Proposition 129 | |
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Election date November 8, 2022 | |
Topic Direct democracy measures | |
Status Approved | |
Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
Arizona Proposition 129, the Single-Subject Requirement for Ballot Initiatives Amendment, was on the ballot in Arizona as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022. The measure was approved.
A "yes" vote supported this constitutional amendment to require that citizen-initiated ballot measures embrace a single subject. |
A "no" vote opposed this constitutional amendment, thus continuing to allow citizen-initiated ballot measures to embrace more than one subject. |
Election results
Arizona Proposition 129 |
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Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
1,311,046 | 55.23% | |||
No | 1,062,533 | 44.77% |
Overview
How did this ballot measure change the initiative process in Arizona?
- See also: Constitutional changes
Proposition 129 added a provision to the Arizona Constitution that requires citizen-initiated ballot measures to embrace a single subject. The ballot measure required the initiative's subject to be expressed in the ballot title, or else the missing subject would be considered void.[1]
As of 2021, there was no single-subject rule for ballot initiatives in Arizona. The Arizona Supreme Court stated that there was no rule in Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry v. Daniel J. Kiley—a case that addressed the voter-approved Proposition 206 (2016). Proposition 206 enacted statutes related to minimum wage and paid sick time, which the plaintiff (Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry) argued was two subjects in violation of the single-subject rule. The Arizona Supreme Court held that the single-subject rule found in Section 13 of Article 4 of the Arizona Constitution applied to legislative statutes but not citizen-initiated statutes.[2]
What other changes to the initiative process were on the ballot in Arizona?
- See also: Background
In 2021, the Arizona State Legislature referred two constitutional amendments related to citizen-initiated measures to the ballot for November 8, 2022. Besides the Single-Subject Requirement for Ballot Initiatives Amendment, the Legislature also passed the Legislative Changes to Ballot Initiatives with Invalid Provisions Amendment. That constitutional amendment—on the ballot as Proposition 128—would have allowed the Arizona State Legislature to amend or repeal voter-approved ballot initiatives if any portion was declared unconstitutional or invalid by the Arizona Supreme Court or U.S. Supreme Court. It was defeated.
In 2022, the Arizona State Legislature also placed Proposition 132 on the ballot for November 8, 2022. The constitutional amendment, which requires a 60% vote for voters to pass ballot measures to approve taxes, was approved.
How was this constitutional amendment placed on the ballot?
State Rep. John Kavanagh (R-23) introduced the constitutional amendment into the state Legislature during the 2021 legislative session. The constitutional amendment passed both the Senate and House of Representatives along party lines and with the minimum number of required votes. In the Senate, 16 votes were required, and the 16 Senate Republicans voted for the amendment, while the 14 Senate Democrats voted against the amendment. In the House, 31 votes were required, and the 31 House Republicans voted for the proposal, while 28 House Democrats voted against the changes.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The official ballot title was as follows:[1]
“ | Official Title Proposing an amendment to the constitution of Arizona; amending Article IV, Part 1, Section 1, Constitution of Arizona; relating to initiative measures. Descriptive Title The constitutional amendment would limit an initiative measure to a single subject and require that subject to be expressed in the title of the initiative measure. [3] |
” |
Ballot summary
The official ballot summary was as follows:[1]
“ | A “YES” vote shall have the effect of amending the constitution to limit each initiative measure to a single subject and require that subject to be expressed in the title of the initiative measure.
A “NO” vote shall have the effect of retaining existing law on initiative measures.[3] |
” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article IV, Arizona Constitution
The ballot measure amended Section 1 of Article IV of the Arizona Constitution. The following underlined text was added and struck-through text was deleted:[1]
Note: Use your mouse to scroll over the below text to see the full text.
(1) Senate; house of representatives; reservation of power to people. The legislative authority of the state shall be vested in the legislature, consisting of a senate and a house of representatives, but the people reserve the power to propose laws and amendments to the constitution and to enact or reject such laws and amendments at the polls, independently of the legislature; and they also reserve, for use at their own option, the power to approve or reject at the polls any act, or item, section, or part of any act, of the legislature. (2) Initiative power. The first of these reserved powers is the initiative. Under this power ten (3) Referendum power; emergency measures; effective date of acts. The second of these reserved powers is the referendum. Under this power the legislature, or five (4) Initiative and referendum petitions; filing. All petitions submitted under the power of the initiative shall be known as initiative petitions, and shall be filed with the secretary of state not less than four months preceding the date of the election at which the measures so proposed are to be voted upon. All petitions submitted under the power of the referendum shall be known as referendum petitions, and shall be filed with the secretary of state not more than ninety days after the final adjournment of the session of the legislature which shall have passed the measure to which the referendum is applied. The filing of a referendum petition against any item, section (5) Effective date of initiative and referendum measures. Any measure or amendment to the constitution proposed under the initiative, and any measure to which the referendum is applied, shall be referred to a vote of the qualified electors, and shall become law when approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon and upon proclamation of the governor, and not otherwise. (6) (A) Veto of initiative or referendum. The veto power of the governor shall not extend to an initiative measure approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon or to a referendum measure decided by a majority of the votes cast thereon. (6) (B) Legislature's power to repeal initiative or referendum. The legislature shall not have the power to repeal an initiative measure approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon or to repeal a referendum measure decided by a majority of the votes cast thereon. (6) (C) Legislature's power to amend initiative or referendum. The legislature shall not have the power to amend an initiative measure approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon, or to amend a referendum measure decided by a majority of the votes cast thereon, unless the amending legislation furthers the purposes of such measure and at least three-fourths of the members of each house of the legislature, by a roll call of ayes and nays, vote to amend such measure. (6) (D) Legislature's power to appropriate or divert funds created by initiative or referendum. The legislature shall not have the power to appropriate or divert funds created or allocated to a specific purpose by an initiative measure approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon, or by a referendum measure decided by a majority of the votes cast thereon, unless the appropriation or diversion of funds furthers the purposes of such measure and at least three-fourths of the members of each house of the legislature, by a roll call of ayes and nays, vote to appropriate or divert such funds. (7) Number of qualified electors. The whole number of votes cast for all candidates for governor at the general election last preceding the filing of any initiative or referendum petition on a state or county measure shall be the basis on which the number of qualified electors required to sign such petition shall be computed. (8) Local, city, town or county matters. The powers of the initiative and the referendum are hereby further reserved to the qualified electors of every incorporated city, town (9) Form and contents of initiative and of referendum petitions; verification. Every initiative or referendum petition shall be addressed to the secretary of state in the case of petitions for or on state measures, and to the clerk of the board of supervisors, city clerk (10) Official ballot. When any initiative or referendum petition or any measure referred to the people by the legislature (11) Publication of measures. The text of all measures to be submitted shall be published as proposed amendments to the constitution are published, and in submitting such measures and proposed amendments the secretary of state and all other officers shall be guided by the general law until legislation shall be especially provided therefore. (12) Conflicting measures or constitutional amendments. If two or more conflicting measures or amendments to the constitution shall be approved by the people at the same election, the measure or amendment receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall prevail in all particulars as to which there is conflict. (13) Canvass of votes; proclamation. It shall be the duty of the secretary of state, in the presence of the governor and the chief justice of the supreme court, to canvass the votes for and against each such measure or proposed amendment to the constitution within thirty days after the election, and upon the completion of the canvass the governor shall forthwith issue a proclamation, giving the whole number of votes cast for and against each measure or proposed amendment, and declaring such measures or amendments as are approved by a majority of those voting thereon to be law. (14) Reservation of legislative power. This section shall not be construed to deprive the legislature of the right to enact any measure except that the legislature shall not have the power to adopt any measure that supersedes, in whole or in part, any initiative measure approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon or any referendum measure decided by a majority of the votes cast thereon unless the superseding measure furthers the purposes of the initiative or referendum measure and at least three-fourths of the members of each house of the legislature, by a roll call of ayes and nays, vote to supersede such initiative or referendum measure. (15) Legislature's right to refer measure to the people. Nothing in this section shall be construed to deprive or limit the legislature of the right to order the submission to the people at the polls of any measure, item, section (16) Self-executing. This section of the constitution shall be, in all respects, self executing.[3] |
Readability score
- See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2022
Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title and summary for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.
The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 13, and the FRE is 18. The word count for the ballot title is 63.
The FKGL for the ballot summary is grade level 13, and the FRE is 47. The word count for the ballot summary is 48.
Support
The Make it Simple: Vote Yes on 129 PAC was the organization supporting Proposition 129.[4]
Supporters
Officials
- State Rep. John Kavanagh (R)
Political Parties
Organizations
Arguments
Opposition
Will of the People Arizona was the campaign in opposition to this measure.[5]
Opponents
Political Parties
Organizations
Arguments
Campaign finance
The Make it Simple: Vote Yes on 129 PAC was the organization supporting Proposition 129.[4]
The Will of the People PAC was the organization in opposition to Proposition 129.[6]
Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Support | $555,000.00 | $0.00 | $555,000.00 | $555,000.00 | $555,000.00 |
Oppose | $3,030,594.73 | $184,469.36 | $3,215,064.09 | $2,966,615.28 | $3,151,084.64 |
Support
The following table includes contribution and expenditure totals for the committees in support of the measure.[6]
Committees in support of Proposition 129 | |||||
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Committee | Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures |
Make it Simple Arizona | $555,000.00 | $0.00 | $555,000.00 | $555,000.00 | $555,000.00 |
Total | $555,000.00 | $0.00 | $555,000.00 | $555,000.00 | $555,000.00 |
Opposition
The following table includes contribution and expenditure totals for the committees in opposition to the initiative.[6]
Committees in opposition to Proposition 129 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Committee | Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions | Cash Expenditures | Total Expenditures |
Will of the People | $3,030,594.73 | $184,469.36 | $3,215,064.09 | $2,966,615.28 | $3,151,084.64 |
Total | $3,030,594.73 | $184,469.36 | $3,215,064.09 | $2,966,615.28 | $3,151,084.64 |
Donors
The following were the top donors to the committee.[6]
Donor | Cash Contributions | In-Kind Contributions | Total Contributions |
---|---|---|---|
SEIU-UHW | $2,150,000.00 | $0.00 | $2,150,000.00 |
The Fairness Project | $250,000.00 | $108,593.33 | $358,593.33 |
National Education Association | $250,000.00 | $0.00 | $250,000.00 |
Every Single Vote | $70,000.00 | $0.00 | $70,000.00 |
Media editorials
- See also: 2022 ballot measure media endorsements
Support
You can share campaign information or arguments, along with source links for this information, at editor@ballotpedia.org
Opposition
The following media editorial boards published an editorial opposing the ballot measure:
Background
Arizona Chamber v. Kiley
In 2017, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry v. Daniel J. Kiley—a case that addressed the voter-approved Proposition 206 (2016). Proposition 206 enacted statutes related to minimum wage and paid sick time, which the plaintiff (Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry) argued was two subjects in violation of the single-subject rule.[2]
The Arizona Supreme Court held that the single-subject rule found in Section 13 of Article 4 of the Arizona Constitution applied to legislative statutes but not citizen-initiated statutes. The opinion stated that Section 1 of Article 4, not Section 13, governed citizen-initiated statutes and that Section 1 did not include a single-subject rule.[2]
The ballot measure was designed to add the same single-subject language for legislative statutes, found in Section 13, to Section 1.[1]
Ballot initiative single-subject rules by state
- See also: Single-subject rule
Of the 26 states that provide for at least one type of statewide citizen-initiated measure, 16 had single-subject rules as of 2021. Arizona was one of 10 states without a single-subject rule for ballot initiatives. The following map illustrates which states have a single-subject rule for ballot initiatives and which ones do not have a single-subject rule:
Direct democracy measures on the ballot, 2022
- See also: Direct democracy measures on the ballot
Voters in three states decided on legislative proposals to change citizen-initiated ballot measure processes on November 8, 2022. On June 7, voters in South Dakota rejected an amendment.
November 8
State | Type | Title | Description | Result | Yes Votes | No Votes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AR | Issue 2 | Require a 60% vote to approve ballot initiatives |
|
353,812 (41%) |
511,580 (59%) |
|
AZ | Proposition 128 | Allow the Legislature to amend or repeal voter-approved ballot measures that contain provisions ruled unconstitutional by the Arizona Supreme Court or U.S. Supreme Court |
|
859,675 (36%) |
1,502,368 (64%) |
|
AZ | Proposition 129 | Require citizen-initiated ballot measures to embrace a single subject |
|
1,311,046 (55%) |
1,062,533 (45%) |
|
AZ | Proposition 132 | Require a 60% vote to pass ballot measures to approve taxes |
|
1,210,702 (51%) |
1,176,327 (49%) |
|
CO | Proposition GG | Require a table showing changes in income tax owed for average taxpayers in certain brackets to be included in the ballot title for initiated measures |
|
1,704,757 (72%) |
665,476 (28%) |
June 7
State | Type | Title | Description | Result | Yes Votes | No Votes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SD | Constitutional Amendment C | Require a three-fifths vote of approval for ballot measures that increase taxes or fees or require the state to appropriate $10 million or more in the first five fiscal years |
|
59,125 (33%) |
122,417 (67%) |
Referred amendments on the ballot
From 1995 through 2020, the Arizona State Legislature referred 50 constitutional amendments to the ballot. Voters approved 32 (64%) and rejected 18 (35%) of the referred amendments. The average number of amendments appearing on the ballot during an even-numbered election year was 3.9. The last election ballot to feature referred constitutional amendments was November 6, 2018, when voters approved one constitutional amendment.
Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1995-2020 | ||||||||
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Total number | Approved | Percent approved | Defeated | Percent defeated | Even-year average | Even-year median | Even-year minimum | Even-year maximum |
50 | 32 | 64.0% | 18 | 35.0% | 3.9 | 5.0 | 0 | 8 |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Arizona Constitution
In Arizona as of 2022, a constitutional amendment requires a simple majority vote in each chamber of the Arizona State Legislature during one legislative session.
State Rep. John Kavanagh (R-23) introduced the constitutional amendment as House Concurrent Resolution 2001. On March 4, 2021, the Arizona House of Representatives voted 31-28 to pass the constitutional amendment. House Republicans supported HCR 2001, and House Democrats voted against HCR 2001. On June 29, 2021, the Arizona State Senate voted 16-14 to approve HCR 2001. Senate Republicans supported the proposal, and Senate Democrats opposed the proposal.[1] With approval in the Senate and House, the constitutional amendment was referred to the ballot for the general election on November 8, 2022.
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How to cast a vote
- See also: Voting in Arizona
Click "Show" to learn more about voter registration, identification requirements, and poll times in Arizona.
How to cast a vote in Arizona | |||||
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Poll timesIn Arizona, all polling places are open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.[7][8] Registration
To vote in Arizona, one must be a citizen of the United States and a resident of an Arizona county. A voter must be 18 years or older on or before Election Day.[9] To be eligible to vote in an election one must register at least 29 days prior to the election. Individuals can register online, in person at the county recorder's office, or by mail.[9] Automatic registrationArizona does not practice automatic voter registration. Online registration
Arizona has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website. Same-day registrationArizona does not allow same-day voter registration. Residency requirementsArizona law requires 29 days of residency in the state before a person may vote. Verification of citizenshipOn March 30, 2022, Governor Doug Ducey (R) signed HB2492 into law. HB2492 requires that voters submitting registration forms not produced by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission submit proof of citizenship along with their registration forms. In the case of registration forms produced by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, HB2492 requires election officials to "use all available resources to verify the citizenship status" of applicants. Should officials be unable to verify a voter's citizenship status, that voter will be barred from voting in a presidential election or by mail in any election, pending submission of proof of citizenship. Should officials determine that a voter is not a citizen, officials will be required to forward the registration application to the county attorney and the attorney general for investigation. Officials who fail to comply with these requirements are guilty of a Class 6 felony.[10] Verifying your registrationThe site Voter View, run by the Arizona Secretary of State's office, allows residents to check their voter registration status online. Voter ID requirementsArizona requires voters to present photo identification or two forms of non-photo identification while voting.[11][12] The following were accepted forms of identification as of March 2023: Click here for the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission's page on accepted ID to ensure you have the most current information. Voters can present one of the following forms of ID that contain the voter’s photograph, name, and address:
If a voter does not have one of the above forms of ID, the voter can present two of the following forms of ID that contain the voter’s name and address:
Additionally, if a voter presents photo ID that does not list an address within the precinct in which he or she wants to cast a vote, that person may present the photo ID with one non-photo identification material from the second list above. The identification material should include the voter’s address. |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Arizona State Legislature, "House Concurrent Resolution 2001," accessed March 7, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Arizona Supreme Court, "Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry v. Kiley," August 2, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>
tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 4.0 4.1 Make It Simple: Vote Yes on 129, "Homepage," accessed Oct 3, 2022
- ↑ Will of the People Arizona, "Homepage," accessed Oct 14, 2022
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Arizona Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance," accessed June 29, 2021
- ↑ Arizona Revised Statutes, "Title 16, Section 565," accessed March 14, 2023
- ↑ Arizona generally observes Mountain Standard Time; however, the Navajo Nation observes daylight saving time. Because of this, Mountain Daylight Time is sometimes observed in Arizona.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Arizona Secretary of State, "Registration Requirements," accessed March 14, 2023
- ↑ Arizona Legislature, "HB2492," accessed March 14, 2023
- ↑ ArizonaElections.gov, "What ID Do I Need to Vote Quiz," accessed March 14, 2023
- ↑ FindLaw.com, "Arizona Revised Statutes Title 16. Elections and Electors § 16-579. Procedure for obtaining ballot by elector," accessed March 14, 2023
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