A state lawmaker is seeking new restrictions on how Arizona voters can change state law.
The proposal by Republican Sen. John Kavanagh would limit future ballot measures to "one subject,'' with a requirement that be spelled out in the title. It would also allow a court to void any portion of a voter-approved measure not mentioned in the title.
Kavanagh said he is simply trying to extend to voter-crafted measures the same rules that apply to laws proposed by the Legislature.
"Be it congressmen, legislators or voters, they should only be voting on one item," he said. "They should not be forced to have two different items in a bill or in an initiative, one that they like and one that they don't like.”
But Sierra Club lobbyist Sandy Bahr sees it differently.
"Really, what Sen. Kavanagh is trying to do, and the Legislature has been trying to do for awhile, is just make it harder to do citizen initiatives, make it easier to challenge them," Bahr said.
Last year, state lawmakers erected several new hurdles for initiative organizers, including a prohibition on paying circulators based on the number of signatures they receive to allowing judges to disqualify petition drives if there has not been "strict compliance'' with every technical requirement.