Message From the Chair, Nancy Burton
SOOO Many Propositions! I just want to vote, not take a test!
The Arizona Legislature is THE most partisan legislature in the country: its rules afford Democrats virtually no ability to pass legislation, even if they make up nearly half of the legislative body. It’s no wonder that out of the nearly 2,200 bills, memorials and resolutions considered in the last session, Democrats were the sponsors of only FIVE bills that made it to the Governor’s desk.
To make matters worse, in the wee hours of the last day of the legislative session, the Republican legislators did an end-run around the governor’s veto pen and referred 10 ballot propositions to the November ballot. These ballot referrals only needed a simple majority to get on the ballot, in contrast to the thousands of signatures required for a citizen ballot initiative, as in the case of the Protect Education Act.
ALL the Republican ballot referrals are an affront to our rights, but six stand out as particularly bad for Arizona.
HCR 2001: a constitutional amendment which attacks voting by mail
HCR 2003: a statutory change creating mandatory gender discrimination in youth sports
HCR 2044: a constitutional amendment which bans all diversity efforts in state government
HCR 2040: a constitutional amendment which attacks educators’ (and other labor unions’) ability to organize
HCR 2048: a Trojan horse constitutional amendment: if passed, would kill the Protect Education Act, even if both ballot propositions pass (because constitutional amendments take precedence over statutory changes).
SCR 1032: a statutory change which ends budget flexibility for school districts in Maricopa and Pima counties, requiring 60% of the budget be spent on classroom instruction, regardless of other mandated spending.
LD17 Democrats MUST educate our voters about these ballot referrals and help them understand the implications so that they’ll vote “NO” on all six, and “YES” on the Protect Education Act.
NOTE: By the time these propositions are on our ballots, they will have different numbers assigned by the Secretary of State. We’ll keep you updated.
Stay tuned and stay informed. You will hear more about these ballot propositions, as well as the progress of the Protect Education Act petitions, as soon as information is available. In addition, we will be publishing and mailing our LD17 Democratic Voter Guide in late September to provide information and advice on candidates as well as ballot propositions.
Spread the word! This is just one more reason we must work together to flip the Arizona legislature!!! 60 years of GOP leadership is enough!
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