PHOENIX — A Maricopa County judge removed a lawmaker-referred measure that would have restricted union organizing from the November ballot.
House Concurrent Resolution 2040 would have placed restrictions on education unions and teachers. Public-safety unions for firefighters and police feared the language would have also affected them.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Greg Como agreed, saying the measure would have banned state and local governments from entering into an agreement with any labor organization, not just education unions.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Steve Montenegro, who defended the measure in court, had argued that the measure would only apply to school unions.
"The Court finds no ambiguity in the phrase 'this state or any political subdivision of this state may not negotiate with a labor organization,'" Como wrote.
In his ruling, Como said HCR 2040 was unconstitutional because it violated Arizona's Separate Amendment rule, which requires proposed amendments to the state Constitution to be proposed separately. The measure, he said, would have both restricted education unions and prohibited any other union for state and local government employees — two separate amendments to the Arizona Constitution.
The Arizona Education Association and other union groups had challenged the measure, which lawmakers passed in the final hours of this year's legislative session.
A spokesperson for Petersen told ABC15 they will not appeal the ruling.
The ballot measure was part of a failed deal to reform Arizona's school voucher program. The AEA and House Republicans were in talks for a special legislative session to pass some reforms to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program and repeal HCR 2040 and two other education-related measures in exchange for the end of the union's effort to put a reform initiative on the November ballot.
Negotiations collapsed after U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who has since won the Republican primary for governor, instead proposed only repealing HCR 2040 if the AEA dropped the Protect Education Act effort.
Reaction to judge's ruling
Several groups have spoken out about the ruling on HCR 2040 since it came out.
The Arizona Education Association provided this statement:
"While our state's educator shortage reaches crisis level with no end in sight, our elected leaders spent precious hours of this year's legislative session cooking up HCR2040 to target educators, police and firefighters and undermine our ability to advocate for ourselves and our students. The Superior Court struck down HCR2040, but the only way to protect educators is by changing leadership and putting pro-education candidates in office.”
State Rep. Matt Gress, a Republican, posted a statement on X:
My statement on the Superior Court striking down HCR 2040. pic.twitter.com/T5Kb4mjmWJ
— Matt Gress (@MatthewGress) July 28, 2026
State lawmakers referred nine other ballot measures to voters.
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