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Pertinent State Law
Here's an excerpt from the Arizona constitution (not the complete relevant text,
though -- just enough to give you the flavor of things). When I tried to access the
several Arizona statutes governing the mechanics of the initiative process, I found that
one must purchase a CD-ROM to open up the applicable sections of the law (ugh!). Maybe you
have at the office a hard-copy of the Arizona code?? -- OO
1. Legislative authority; initiative and referendum
Section 1. (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 per centum of the qualified electors shall have the right
to propose any measure, and fifteen per centum shall have the right to propose any
amendment to the constitution.
(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 per centum of the qualified electors, may order the submission to the
people at the polls of any measure, or item, section, or part of any measure, enacted by
the legislature, except laws immediately necessary for the preservation of the public
peace, health, or safety, or for the support and maintenance of the departments of the
state government and state institutions; but to allow opportunity for referendum
petitions, no act passed by the legislature shall be operative for ninety days after the
close of the session of the legislature enacting such measure, except such as require
earlier operation to preserve the public peace, health, or safety, or to provide
appropriations for the support and maintenance of the departments of the state and of
state institutions; provided, that no such emergency measure shall be considered passed by
the legislature unless it shall state in a separate section why it is necessary that it
shall become immediately operative, and shall be approved by the affirmative votes of
two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the legislature, taken by roll call of
ayes and nays, and also approved by the governor; and should such measure be vetoed by the
governor, it shall not become a law unless it shall be approved by the votes of
three-fourths of the members elected to each house of the legislature, taken by roll call
of ayes and nays.
(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,
or part of any measure shall not prevent the remainder of such measure from becoming
operative.
(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
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