Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives want voters to limit their own ability to change the state’s Constitution.
Right now, ballot measures seeking to modify the Arizona constitution need approval from a majority of voters to pass. Under Rep. Alexander Kolodin’s HCR 2025, those constitutional amendments would need 60% of the vote to pass.
Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) said it should be harder to modify the state Constitution than it is to amend state law, but right now, both types of changes need a simple majority to pass.
“If it's exactly as easy to change the Constitution as to change statute, why do we bother to have a Constitution at all?” he said.
The measure passed the Arizona House of Representatives with just Republican votes.
Rep. Aaron Marquez (D-Phoenix) argued the measure would hurt grassroots efforts to change the Constitution and benefit well-funded special interest groups that can afford more robust get-out-the-vote efforts.
“I think the citizen Initiative is a thing that makes direct democracy really great in Arizona, whether that's a constitutional amendment or a change to just a law,” Marquez said. “I think this is wrong-headed.”
Marquez suggested lawmakers should instead increase the number of votes needed for lawmakers to send measures to the ballot after legislators referred six proposed constitutional amendments to last year’s ballot.
“And, frankly, I think the citizen initiative was one of the great things that we have here in Arizona, but the legislative referral process is what bogs down our ballots so much that voters get exhausted filling out the ballots, and it really leads to a lack of participation,” he said.
But Kolodin argued changes to the Constitution should have a higher threshold for approval than state law.
And, he argued, Arizona voters have already approved requiring a 60% requirement for ballot measures that would raise taxes.
“And I think that amending the Arizona Constitution is at least as serious as changing the tax rate,” he said, referring to a 2022 ballot measure that passed with just under 51% of the vote. “And so it seems only reasonable that we have a 60% threshold.”
Rep. Neal Carter (R-San Tan Valley) put a finer point on it.
“But if you try to change your HOA [rules], it's a 75% vote,” he said.
If the proposal is approved by the Arizona Senate, it will go to voters for approval on the 2026 ballot.
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