PHOENIX — The Arizona Legislature is weighing dozens of proposed ballot measures for November, including legislation Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed.
Take House Concurrent Resolution 2016, which House lawmakers passed on Tuesday. The measure would ask voters to ban countywide polling locations and in-person early voting. Instead, counties would be required to offer voting locations by precincts.
Hobbs vetoed a similar bill last year, but if HCR 2016 passes the Senate, it will go directly to voters.
"This is the way they go around the veto, and nobody wants these bills,” House Minority Leader Nancy Gutierrez said.
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State Rep. Nick Kupper, who is sponsoring a ballot measure to ban medical mandates like school vaccine requirements, said lawmakers don’t send all of the measures they consider to voters.
“We try to figure out, ‘Hey, what is really the best thing for Arizona and the best use of Arizonans’ time when they vote?’” he said.
House Concurrent Resolution 2056 would ask voters to amend the state Constitution to add a “fundamental and inherent right” to refuse vaccines and other medical products or treatments.
“The people of Arizona have never once had the opportunity to decide for themselves if they want the state to be able to mandate what they do with their bodies, or if they want to have that ability to choose what happens to their bodies themselves,” he said.
He said it’s something for voters – not lawmakers – to decide.
“I think there's nothing really more personal than your own body, right?” said Kupper, a Republican who represents Legislative District 25.
All bills, including proposed ballot measures, face a key deadline this week. They must pass one chamber of the Legislature by Friday.
Ballot measures can't be vetoed
Gutierrez, a Democrat from Legislative District 18, called such ballot referrals disrespectful to both Hobbs and voters.
“They certainly do not want a ballot that is a mile long, and this is just a way to circumvent the checks and balances that our governor has,” she said.
The Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds majority, but Republicans hold narrower majorities than that in both chambers.
“Because the majority party has a Democratic governor in office, they want to circumvent her, so that's why we're seeing so much of this,” Gutierrez said.
But she does welcome efforts by citizens to put questions on the ballot – such as an effort by education groups to reform Arizona’s school voucher program.
“I'm excited that we will see a voter initiative coming about ESA vouchers, because right now, the majority party has not seen any of our ESA bills,” she said, adding that voters elected lawmakers to put controls on Empowerment Scholarship Accounts.
Voters in November will see at least three measures sent to the ballot by lawmakers.
The Legislature last year passed ballot referrals to limit sales tax on groceries, ban fees on vehicle mileage, and designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
Measures still must get a majority of votes in November.
Voters in the 2024 general election decided on 11 ballot measures referred by lawmakers. Only four passed.
