A bill passed in the Arizona House on Monday limits how long voter-approved ballot measures would be paid for with tax dollars. The laws would be referred back to the ballot every eight years.
The bill requires the state auditor general to do a special review every five years to find out how much each voter-approved measure costs. Then eight years after the laws were originally passed, they would be sent back to the ballot for voter reauthorization. If they are approved again, the laws would go through the process every eight years after.
State Representative Martin Quezada, an Avondale Democrat, opposes the bill.
"The expense that will be incurred to defend each and every one of these measures every eight years becomes problematic and it would be difficult for the voters to uphold those measures that they fought to get enacted in the first place,” Quezada said.
But Republican supporters said the measure is needed to ensure that people who recently moved to Arizona have a say in how state revenues are spent. If the measure passes in the Senate the Secretary of State would have to send it to voters for final approval because it amends the Arizona constitution.