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Arizona House Bill 2196 (2014)

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House Bill 2196
Flag of Arizona.png
Legislature:Arizona House of Representatives
Text:HB 2196
Sponsor(s):Rep. Eddie Farnsworth (R-12)
Legislative history
Introduced:January 22, 2014
State house:February 13, 2014
State senate:February 20, 2014
Governor:Jan Brewer (R)
Signed:February 27, 2014
Legal environment
State law:Laws governing the initiative process in Arizona
Code:Elections code
Section:Chapter 209
Impact on initiative rights
Citizens in Charge Foundation#Legislation ratingsUnavailable

Arizona House Bill 2196 was introduced by its sponsor Rep. Eddie Farnsworth (R-12) and asked state legislators to reconsider a large bundle of reforms approved in 2013 as Arizona House Bill 2305. Both branches of the legislature apparently thought better of their previously approved reforms when the group Protect Your Vote Arizona sponsored a successful veto referendum signature campaign against it. The Arizona House of Representatives approved HB 2196, repealing HB 2305, on February 13, and the Senate approved it soon after on February 20. Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed the bill on February 27, officially repealing the reforms from a year earlier.[1]

Protect Your Vote referendum

See also: Arizona Election Law Referendum (2014)

When HB 2305 was approved, it sparked strong opposition from initiative and referendum enthusiasts who saw the new law as simply more roadblocks for and stronger restrictions on the initiative process. Activists organized under the name Protect Your Vote Arizona organized a petition campaign to put a veto referendum on the 2014 ballot in order to give voters a chance to overturn it. Supporters of the referendum were required to gather 86,405 valid signatures by September 11, 2013.[2]

Protect Your Vote Arizona activists began circulating petitions in July 2013. On October 29, 2013, the secretary of state confirmed that the measure received enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Supporters turned in over 144,000 signatures, of which 110,770 were declared valid.[3]

Instead of putting a referendum on the ballot, the legislature repealed HB 2305 through 2014 House Bill 2196.

Provisions

Arizona House Bill 2305, which was enacted in 2013 and repealed by HB 2196, had the following provisions:[4]

“

Requires a political committee that files petitions to organize and group the signature sheets as follows:

a) by the county of residence of the majority of the persons signing the signature sheet;

b) by circulator; and

c) by the notary public who notarized the circulator’s signature on the sheet.

Permits the SOS to return as unfiled any signature sheets that are not grouped and organized as required.

States that the political committee that is the proponent of the petition is solely responsible for compliance with specified requirements.

Permits any political committee to submit to the SOS, at the time of filing a petition, a list of all petition circulators and a copy of a criminal records check performed on each circulator.

Specifies that a criminal records check is one that is verified through source documents and performed by a licensed entity.

Stipulates that, if the background check was performed and provided by a person or entity who was engaged in an arm’s length transaction with the political committee, any challenge to those petition circulators must demonstrate to the court by clear and convincing evidence that the circulator was not eligible to register to vote in this state.

Permits the SOS to adopt, by rule, appropriate standards for determining whether a transaction between a political committee and the person or entity providing the circulators’ background checks constitutes an arm’s length transaction.

Defines arm’s length transaction.

Defines affiliate.

Makes technical changes.

Becomes effective on the general effective date.[4][5]

”

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Legiscan, "Arizona House Bill 2196," accessed August 12, 2014
  2. ↑ Phoenix New Times, "Arizona's Voter Suppression Law: Referendum to Overturn HB 2305 Filed Today," July 1, 2013
  3. ↑ KTAR.com, "Arizona election referendum certified for 2014 ballot," October 29, 2013
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Arizona Legislature website, "Senate Revised Fact Sheet HB 2305," accessed January 15, 2014
  5. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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