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REFERENCE TITLE: initiatives; filings; circulators |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-first Legislature First Regular Session 2013
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HB 2305 |
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Introduced by Representative Farnsworth
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AN ACT
amending section 19-121, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to INITIATIVE and referendum.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 19-121, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
19-121. Signature sheets; petitions; form; procedure for filing; evidence in challenge
A. Signature sheets filed shall:
1. Be in the form prescribed by law.
2. Have printed in its their lower right‑hand corner, on each side of such sheet sheets, the official serial number assigned to the petition by the secretary of state.
3. Be attached to a full and correct copy of the title and text of the measure, or amendment to the constitution, proposed or referred by the petition.
4. Be printed in at least eight point type.
5. Be printed in black ink on white or recycled white pages fourteen inches in width by eight and one‑half inches in length, with a margin of at least one‑half inch at the top and one‑fourth inch at the bottom of each page.
B. For the purposes of this chapter, a petition is filed when the petition sheets are tendered to the secretary of state, at which time who shall issue a receipt is immediately issued by the secretary of state based on an estimate made to the secretary of state of the purported number of sheets and signatures filed. After the issuance of the receipt, no additional petition sheets may be accepted for filing.
C. Petitions may be filed with the secretary of state in numbered sections for convenience in handling. Not more than fifteen signatures on one sheet shall be counted. The political committee that files the petitions shall organize the signature sheets and group them by the county of residence of the majority of the persons signing that signature sheet, by circulator on that signature sheet and by the notary public who notarized the circulator's signature on that sheet. The secretary of state may return as unfiled any signature sheets that are not so organized and grouped. The political committee that is the proponent of the petition is solely responsible for compliance with this subsection.
D. Initiative petitions which that have not been filed with the secretary of state as of 5:00 p.m. on the day required by the constitution prior to before the ensuing general election after their issuance shall be null and void, but in no event shall the secretary of state accept an initiative petition which that was issued for circulation more than twenty‑four months prior to before the general election at which the measure is to be included on the ballot.
E. For the purposes of this article and article 4 of this chapter, the measure to be attached to the petition as enacted by the legislative body of an incorporated city, or town or a county means the adopted ordinance or resolution or, in the absence of a written ordinance or resolution, that portion of the minutes of the legislative body that reflects the action taken by that body when adopting the measure. In the case of zoning measures the measure shall also include a legal description of the property and any amendments made to the ordinance by the legislative body.
F. Any political committee may submit to the secretary of state at the time of filing its petition a list of all petition circulators who circulated that petition and a copy of a background check performed on each petition circulator. If the background check was performed and provided by a person or entity who was engaged in an arm's length transaction with the committee, including any of its employees, vendors, contractors or subcontractors, any challenge to those petition circulators must demonstrate to the court by clear and convincing evidence that the circulator was not eligible to register to vote in this state. The secretary of state may adopt by rule appropriate standards for determining whether a transaction between a political committee, its employees, vendors, contractors and subcontractors and the person or entity providing the circulators' background checks constitutes an arm's length transaction.