The House Ways and Means Committee agreed Monday to try to give Arizona lawmakers more power to overturn ballot measures.
A 1998 voter-approved constitutional provision says once an initiative has bee adopted at the ballot it can be altered by lawmakers only if it "furthers the purpose" of the original measure. Even then, it takes a three-fourths vote of both the House and Senate.
The proposal by Rep. J.D. Mesnard would instead say that lawmakers could do whatever they want to voter-approved measure as long as they do it by the same margin as it was approved by voters. So, for example, if a future proposal passed with 53 percent of the vote, it would take just 53 percent of lawmakers to rescind it-- or 16 of 30 senators and 32 of 60 representatives.
"It is trying to strike the right balance to what level of support something has to have at the ballot before we, for all practical purposes, lock it in stone. Something can squeak by with 50.1 percent and we pretty much have it," Mesnard said.
Sierra Club lobbyist Sandy Bahr urged lawmakers to reject the change. She said it takes a lot of money and time for organizations like hers to even get the measure on the ballot in the first place, much less get it approved.
"Already we're talking about a process that's very difficult. So you go through all of that and then the next year the Legislature proposes swiping the dollars or changing the total intent. That's wrong. That's just wrong," Bahr said.
Even if Mesnard gets his plan through the Legislature, it would still be up to voters to accept or reject in November.