ballot measure amendments

HB2504 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
ballot measure amendments

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2504

Introduced by

Representatives
Stahl Hamilton: Abeytia, Blattman, Cavero, Connolly, Contreras P, Crews,
Garcia, Gutierrez, Liguori, Sandoval, Simacek, Travers, Villegas

AN
ACT

repealing sections 19-102.01 and
19-111.01, Arizona Revised Statutes; amending title 19, chapter 1, article 2,
Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding a new section 19-111.01; amending sections
19-118 and 19-125, 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.
Repeal

Sections 19-102.01 and 19-111.01,
Arizona Revised Statutes, are repealed.

Sec. 2. Title 19, chapter 1, article 2, Arizona
Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section 19-111.01, to read:

START_STATUTE
19-111.01.

Approval of description; attorney general; challenge

At any time before a person or organization
submits an application for initiative petition or referendum petition, a
political committee that intends to file that application may submit the
proposed description of the principal provisions of the measure prescribed by
section 19-101 or 19-102 to the attorney general for a
determination of whether the description is lawful and sufficient.� Within ten
days After submittal to the attorney general, the attorney general shall
approve or reject the description and, if rejected, shall state the reasons for
the rejection.� If approved, any challenge to the description shall be filed in
the superior court within ten days after the attorney general's approval.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 19-118, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
19-118.

Registered circulators; requirements; violation; classification;
definition

A. For statewide initiative and referendum measures
only, all circulators who are not residents of this state and all paid
circulators must register as circulators with the secretary of state before
circulating petitions pursuant to this title. The committee that is
circulating the petition shall collect and submit the completed registration
applications to the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall
establish in the instructions and procedures manual issued pursuant to section
16-452 a procedure for registering circulators, including circulator
registration applications, and shall publish on a website maintained by the
secretary of state all information regarding circulators that is required
pursuant to this section. The secretary of state shall disqualify
all signatures collected by a circulator who fails to register pursuant to this
subsection as provided for in section 19-121.01, subsection A.

B. The circulator registration application required
by subsection A of this section shall require the following:

1. The circulator's full name, residence address,
telephone number and email address.

2. The initiative or referendum petition on which
the circulator will gather signatures.

3. A statement that the circulator consents to the
jurisdiction of the courts of this state in resolving any disputes concerning
the circulation of petitions by that circulator.

4. The address of the committee in this state for
which the circulator is gathering signatures and at which the circulator will
accept service of process related to disputes concerning circulation of that
circulator's petitions.� Service of process is effected under this section by
delivering a copy of the subpoena to that person individually, by leaving a
copy of the subpoena with a person of suitable age or by mailing a copy of the
subpoena to the committee by certified mail to the address provided.

5. An affidavit from the registered circulator that
is signed by the circulator before a notary public and that includes the
following declaration:

I,
(print
name)
, under penalty of a class 1
misdemeanor, acknowledge that I am eligible to register as a circulator in the
state of Arizona, that all of the information provided is correct to the best
of my knowledge and that I have read and understand Arizona election laws
applicable to the collection of signatures for a statewide initiative or
referendum.

C. Within five business days after submission and
review of a complete and correct circulator registration application that
complies with this section, the secretary of state shall register and assign a
circulator registration number to the circulator.

D. A person may not register as a circulator
pursuant to this section if the person:

1. Has had a civil or criminal penalty imposed for a
violation of title 16 or this title within the immediately preceding five
years.

2. Has been convicted of treason or a felony and has
not been restored to civil rights as described in section 16-101,
subsection A, paragraph 5.

3. Has been convicted of any criminal offense
involving fraud, forgery or identity theft.

E. If a registered circulator is properly served
with a subpoena to provide evidence in an action regarding circulation of
petitions and fails to appear or produce documents as provided for in the
subpoena,
all

a court may enforce the
subpoena against the circulator as otherwise provided by law.� On presentation
of independent sufficient evidence that the circulator is ineligible to
circulate petitions or engaged in fraud with respect to some or all of the signatures
obtained, the court may order that those
signatures collected by that
circulator are
deemed
invalid. The party
serving the subpoena may request an order from the court directing the
secretary of state to remove any signatures collected by the circulator
as

on the grounds
provided for in section
19-121.01, subsection A.

F. Any person may challenge the lawful registration
of circulators in the superior court of the county in which the circulator is
registered.� A challenge may not be commenced more than ten business days after
the date that the secretary of state's office has received, processed and made
available all final petition sheets individually numbered. The
person challenging signatures may amend that complaint after the secretary of
state has removed signatures and signature sheets as prescribed in section 19-121.01. An
action pursuant to this section shall be advanced on the calendar and decided
by the court as soon as possible.� Either party may appeal to the supreme court
within five calendar days after entry of judgment. The prevailing
party in an action to challenge the registration of a circulator under this
section is entitled to reasonable attorney fees.

G. The removal or disqualification of any one or
more circulators does not invalidate the random sample of signatures made
pursuant to section 19-121.01, and the secretary of state shall not be
required to conduct any additional random sampling of signatures.

H. A person who knowingly omits or misrepresents
information or provides false information on a circulator registration
application or who registers in violation of this section is guilty of a class
1 misdemeanor.

I. For the purposes of this title, "paid
circulator":

1. Means a natural person who receives monetary or
other compensation for obtaining signatures on a statewide initiative or
referendum petition or for circulating statewide initiative or referendum
petitions for signatures.

2. Does not include a paid employee of any political
committee organized pursuant to title 16, chapter 6, unless that employee has
or will obtain two hundred or more signatures on an initiative, referendum or
recall petition in an election cycle.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 19-125, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
19-125.

Form of ballot

A. The secretary of state, at the time the secretary
of state transmits to the clerks of the boards of supervisors a certified copy
of the name of each candidate for public office, shall transmit to each clerk a
certified copy of the official title, the descriptive title and the number of
each measure and proposed amendment to the constitution to be voted on at the
ensuing regular general election.

B. Proposed constitutional amendments shall be
numbered consecutively beginning with the number one hundred, proposed
initiative measures shall be numbered consecutively beginning with the number
two hundred, measures submitted under the referendum shall be numbered
consecutively beginning with the number three hundred, and county and local
issues shall be numbered consecutively beginning with the number four hundred.�
Numbering shall be consecutive based on the order in which the initiative or
referendum petitions are filed with the secretary of
state. Individual numbering shall continue from the last number used
in the previous election and shall not be repeated until all one hundred
numbers in that series have been used.� Proposed constitutional amendments
shall be placed by themselves at the head of the ballot column, followed by
initiated and referred measures in that order. The number assigned
to the measure by the secretary of state constitutes the official title of the
measure and shall be used for identification of the measure by the state and
the county in all subsequent official election materials, including the
publicity pamphlet.

C. The officer in charge of elections shall print
the official title and the descriptive title of each measure on the official
ballot in the order presented to him by the secretary of state unless otherwise
provided by law. The number of the measure shall be in reverse type
and at least twelve point type. A proposed constitutional amendment
shall be designated "proposed amendment to the constitution by the
legislature", or "proposed amendment to the constitution by the
initiative", as the case may be. A measure referred by the
legislature shall be designated "referred to the people by the
legislature", a measure referred by petition shall be designated
"referendum ordered by petition of the people" and a measure proposed
by initiative petition shall be designated "proposed by initiative
petition".

D. A descriptive title shall be printed on the
official ballot immediately below the number of the measure and the official
title of each measure
. The descriptive title

and
shall contain
a

an
impartial
summary of the principal provisions of the measure, not to
exceed fifty words, which shall be prepared by the secretary of state and
approved by the attorney general
.

and shall
include

At least thirty days before the earliest date
that the official ballots and publicity pamphlet are sent to be printed, the secretary
OF state and the attorney general shall prominently post the approved impartial
summary on their respective websites, and the secretary of state shall provide
a copy of the impartial summary to the committee that filed the ballot measure,
if any. The impartial summary shall include
the following or
the ballot shall comply with subsection F of this section:

A "yes" vote shall have the effect of
______________________
.

A "no" vote shall have the effect of
_______________________
.

The blank spaces shall be filled with a
brief phrase, approved by the attorney general, stating the essential change in
the existing law should the measure receive a majority of votes cast in that
particular manner.� In the case of a referendum, a "yes" vote shall
have the effect of approving the legislative enactment that is being referred.�
The "yes" and "no" language shall be posted on the
secretary of state's website after being approved by the attorney general and
before the date on which the official ballots and the publicity pamphlet are
sent to be printed.� Below the statement of effect of a "yes" vote
and effect of a "no" vote there shall be printed the corresponding
words "yes" and "no" and a place for the voter to put a
mark as defined in section 16-400 indicating the voter's preference.

E. In addition to the information prescribed by
subsection D of this section, for state statutory measures, the officer in
charge of elections shall print on the official ballot immediately before the
first proposed state statutory initiative measure and immediately before the
first proposed state statutory measure submitted under the referendum the
following statement:� "Notice:� Pursuant to proposition 105 (1998), these
measures cannot be changed in the future if approved on the ballot except by a
three-fourths vote of the members of each house of the legislature and if the
change furthers the purpose of the original ballot measure, by an initiative
petition or by referring the change to the ballot."

F. Instead of printing the official and descriptive
titles or the full text of each measure or question on the official ballot, the
officer in charge of elections may print phrases on the official ballot that
contain all of the following:

1. The number of the measure in reverse type and at
least twelve point type.

2. The designation of the measure as prescribed by
subsection C of this section or as a question, proposition or charter
amendment, followed by the words "relating to..." and inserting the
subject.

3. Either the statement prescribed by subsection D
of this section that describes the effects of a "yes" vote and a
"no" vote or, for other measures, the text of the question or
proposition.

4. The words "yes" and "no" or
"for" and "against", as may be appropriate and a place for
the voter to put a mark.

5. For state statutory measures, immediately before
the first proposed state statutory initiative measure and immediately before
the first proposed state statutory measure submitted under the referendum the
following statement:� "Notice:� Pursuant to proposition 105 (1998), these
measures cannot be changed in the future if approved on the ballot except by a
three-fourths vote of the members of each house of the legislature and if the
change furthers the purpose of the original ballot measure, by an initiative
petition or by referring the change to the ballot."

G. For any ballot printed pursuant to subsection F
of this section, the instructions on the official ballot shall direct the voter
to the full text of the official and descriptive titles and the questions and
propositions as printed on the sample ballot and posted in the polling place.
END_STATUTE

Sec.
5.
Legislative intent; right of initiative and referendum

After many years of restricting the
people's right to legislate by initiative and referendum, it is the intent of
the legislature by this act to restore some of the rights of the people
regarding their reserved powers to legislate, which are guaranteed by article
IV, part 1, section 1, Constitution of Arizona.