Progressive groups banding together to fight initiative restrictions

Regional News

Audio By Carbonatix

Now that Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill that could hamper citizens’ initiatives, advocacy groups are contemplating several potential ways to fend off the bill’s provisions.

Ducey signed HB2404, which bans the incentive practice of paying petition circulators per signature for citizens’ initiatives, on Friday. The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Vince Leach of Tucson, was backed by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and passed both chambers of the Arizona Legislature on party lines.

But the bill’s opponents — and even its defenders — say they don’t expect Ducey’s signature to be the final word.

And there’s a coalition forming of groups who have used the ballot in recent years to fend off the recently signed measure and other perceived attacks on the initiative process.

Those who want to see the bill overturned have a few options. They could run a citizen referendum on HB2404, which would require 75,321 signatures to put a yes or no vote on the bill onto the next general election ballot. They could run a ballot measure to enshrine the citizen’s initiative process in the Arizona Constitution as it stands today, or even loosen the rules for initiatives, which would require 225,963 signatures.