AZ Ballot Propositions
Prop 133
Amends AZ Constitution to continue current laws allowing political parties to nominate their own candidates.
Arguments For:
- Clarifies and retains direct primary elections.
- Protects party primary elections.
- Supported by AZ Free Enterprise Club and Heritage Action for America.
Arguments Against:
- Bans local governments from holding elections in the format they choose.
- Opposed by League of Women Voters and AZ Public Health Association.
Prop 134
Amends AZ Constitution to require signatures from every state legislative district for citizen initiatives.
Arguments For:
- Requires signatures from the entire state for citizens initiatives rather than only from the most populated counties.
- Ensures every Arizonan has a voice in the ballot measure process, especially that rural voters have a say on citizen initiatives.
- Supported by AZ Free Enterprise Club and AZ Farm Bureau
Arguments Against:
- Allows one single legislative district to block a citizen-led initiative for the entire state.
- Makes it more difficult for initiatives to qualify for the ballot.
- Opposed by League of Women Voters and AZ Public Health Association
Prop 135
Amends AZ Constitution to require legislative approval of a Governor’s emergency declaration beyond 30 days.
Arguments For:
- Provides check and balance to the governor’s emergency powers. During the COVID shutdown, this would have required the legislature to extend the governor’s emergency powers after the first 30 days of COVID.
- Supported by AZ Free Enterprise Club
Arguments Against:
- Threatens public health and safety by hindering long-term responses to
emergencies. - Limits the governor’s ability to respond to emergencies.
- Opposed by League of Women Voters and AZ Public Health Association.
Prop 136
Amends AZ Constitution to allow legal challenges to the constitutionality of citizen-led initiatives prior to being placed on the ballot.
Arguments For:
- Allows AZ courts to determine constitutionality prior to certification for the ballot.
- Prohibits initiatives that are unconstitutional from going to the ballot.
- Supported by AZ Free Enterprise Club.
Arguments Against:
- Raises the cost of citizen-led initiatives and is undemocratic.
- Opposed by League of Women Voters.
Prop 137
Amends AZ Constitution to require judicial retention elections only for judges not meeting specified circumstances. Allows any legislator to refer a judge for investigation by the Judicial Performance Review Commission.
Arguments For:
- Prevents or limits politicization of judicial retention elections.
- Reduces judicial retention elections to only those that focus on judges not meeting certain standards.
- Only those judges convicted of specific crimes, file for bankruptcy, or have a negative review by the Judicial Performance Review Commission would be in the retention election.
Arguments Against:
- Prohibits voters from being able to vote on judges and remove judges.
- Essentially gives lifetime appointments to most judges.
- Opposed by Progress Arizona.
Prop 138
Amends the Arizona Constitution to establish minimum hourly wage requirements for employees who receive tips.
Arguments For:
- • Boosts pay for tipped workers and protects their jobs while keeping costs down for small businesses and customers.
- Supported by AZ Restaurant Association.
Arguments Against:
- Subjects tipped workers to lower wages.
- Opposed by Raise the Wage AZ.
Prop 139
- Amends the AZ Constitution to create a fundamental right to abortion.
- Limits the state’s ability to interfere or restrict that right before fetal viability.
- After fetal viability, abortions are allowed when necessary to protect the life, physical, or mental health of the pregnant individual.
- Prohibits penalizing a person for assisting an individual obtaining an abortion.
Arguments For:
- Protects the fundamental right to an abortion in the state constitution.
- People have a right to individual autonomy, including in healthcare decisions, without unnecessary government interference.
- Prevents state from limiting access to abortion before fetal viability without establishing that the limitation (1) is solely to protect the health of the patient, (2) doesn’t infringe on their autonomous decision making, and (3) uses only the least restrictive means.
- Protects access to abortion after fetal viability if a treating healthcare provider determines an abortion is needed to protect the life or physical or mental health of the patient.
- Prevents the state from penalizing anyone who assists another person in exercising their right to abortion.
Arguments Against:
- Makes critical safeguards impossible to enforce – including current commonsense safety precautions to protect girls and women from complications.
- Takes the doctor out of the doctor-patient relationship by removing the required medical doctor.
- Legalizes late-term abortion.
- Protects sex abusers by stating “no law can penalize any individual who aids or assists” someone getting an abortion.
- Removes the parental consent requirement for a minor seeking an abortion.
- 90% of voters agree that abortion should be limited to 15 weeks or earlier. Abortion is legal now in Arizona up to 15 weeks and beyond in certain circumstances like medical emergencies.
Prop 140
- Amends the AZ Constitution to establish the same signature requirement for all primary election candidates for any given office.
- Eligible voters may vote for candidates regardless of party affiliation.
- The legislature may determine the number of candidates advancing to the general election.
- Prohibits using public monies for political party elections.
Arguments For:
- Establishes an open primary system that makes elections fair by allowing all voters, including independents and non-affiliated citizens, to vote in primary elections.
- Treats all candidates the same because all candidates appear on the same ballot.
- Gives voters equal opportunity to weigh in on primary elections where 80% of legislative races are determined.
Arguments Against:
- Eliminates the system of one person one vote in which the candidate who gets the most votes wins.
- Removes choices for voters by allowing only candidates from one party to be represented in a general election.
- California-style elections are funded by wealthy, out of state special interest groups who want to change how we vote.
Prop 311
Establishes a $20 fee on every criminal offense conviction to fund a state death benefit of $250,000 to the surviving spouse or children of a first responder killed in the line of duty.
Arguments For:
- Supports first responders by increasing benefits available to surviving family members.
- Supports recruitment efforts for first responders.
- Arizonans count on them, Arizonans should have their backs.
Arguments Against:
- Should be funded by state’s general fund and not create a new fine that is unfair to certain citizens.
Prop 312
Allows property owners to apply for a property tax refund due to a governing authority’s failure to enforce certain public nuisance laws on or near the owner’s real property.
Arguments For:
- When government fails to enforce existing laws regarding illegal camping, loitering, pollution, and other nuisances, taxpayers will no longer be forced to foot the bill.
- Hardworking Arizona taxpayers should not be forced to bear the burden of a city’s refusal to do its duty to protect public health and safety.
- Protects property owners and holds cities accountable to help keep neighborhoods safe and secure.
- Supported by Goldwater Institute.
Arguments Against:
- Drains needed resources from cities and exposes cities to further litigation.
- Doesn’t solve the problem of homelessness or make homeless encampments go away.
- Opposed by AZ League of Cities and Towns.
Prop 313
Enacts a life sentence for a person convicted of child sex trafficking without any form of release.
Arguments For:
- Arizonans have no greater collective duty than to protect the most vulnerable. Crimes against children should result in penalties appropriate to the offense.
- Child sex trafficking is inarguably one of the worst possible human rights abuses and is a growing problem.
- Predators are increasingly using social media to more easily identify potential child victims to abduct for prostitution and child pornography.
Arguments Against:
- Harms victims who are used to coerce other victims into being trafficked.
- Targets victims rather than the traffickers.
Prop 314
Makes it a state crime for persons not lawfully in the United States to submit false information in applications for public benefits and employment. Makes it a state crime to sell fentanyl that later causes the death of a person.
Arguments For:
- Allows for state and local police to arrest noncitizens who cross the border unlawfully at points other than a port of entry.
- Allows judges to order deportation.
- Secures Arizona’s border because federal government has failed to do its job.
Arguments Against:
- Hurts Arizona businesses and sends jobs out of state.
- Makes it more difficult for law enforcement to do their jobs.
- Immigrants help build Arizona. This targets them and disrupts their contributions to state’s economy.
Prop 315
Requires legislature to ratify any state agency rule estimated to increase regulatory costs by more than $500,000 within five years.
Arguments For:
- Provides a check and balance to costly government regulations by requiring legislative oversight.
- Supported by Americans for Prosperity Arizona.
Arguments Against:
- Adds another layer of bureaucracy by requiring legislative approval for new regulations.
- Risks effective government and public safety by stifling regulatory development.
- Opposed by ACLU of AZ, League of Women Voters, and AZ Public Health Association.