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Arizona Proposition 212, $18 Minimum Wage Initiative (2024)
| Arizona Proposition 212 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2024 | |
| Topic Minimum wage | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
Arizona Proposition 212, the $18 Minimum Wage Initiative, was not on the ballot in Arizona as an initiated state statute on November 5, 2024.
This ballot measure would have increased the minimum wage to $18 per hour, and continued to increase the minimum wage based on inflation as measured by the consumer price index. The measure would also have gradually raised the wage of tipped employees to be equal to the wage of other employees by 2028.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The official ballot title would have been as follows:[2]
| “ |
REPEALING SECTION 23-362; ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES, AMENDING SECTIONS 23-362 (AS ADDED BY PROPOSITION 202, NOV. 7, 2006) AND 23-363, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES; RELATING TO THE MINIMUM WAGE AND ASSOCIATED DEFINITIONS. Descriptive Title THIS INITIATIVE WILL RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE BY $1 OVER COST-OF-LIVING INCREASES IN 2025 AND 2026 AND RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE ACCORDING TO COST-OF-LIVING INCREASES ANNUALLY THEREAFTER. IT WOULD GRADUALLY RAISE WAGES FOR TIPPED EMPLOYEES TO THE MINIMUM WAGE BY 2027 AND EXPAND COVERAGE OF THE MINIMUM WAGE. [3] |
” |
Ballot summary
The official ballot summary was as follows:[2]
| “ | A "yes" vote shall have the effect of removing the small business exception for minimum wage and raising the minimum wage by $1 over cost-of-living increases in 2025 and 2026. In years where the cost-of-living changes are in the negative, the minimum wage will not be raised. This law would also gradually raise the minimum wage for tipped workers in 2025 and 2026 and mandate that, beginning in 2027, tipped workers will also be paid the minimum wage. In addition, this law would establish that the minimum wage applies to workers regardless of age, status as a learner, apprentice, vocational trainee, or other status where a worker provides labor regardless of benefit to the worker.
|
” |
Full text
The full text of the ballot measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
Process in Arizona
In Arizona, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated state statute is equal to 10 percent of the votes cast for the office of governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Petitions can be circulated for up to 24 months. Signature petitions must be submitted four months prior to the election at which the measure is to appear.
The requirements to get initiated state statutes certified for the 2024 ballot:
- Signatures: 255,949 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was July 3, 2024.
If the secretary of state certifies that enough valid signatures were submitted, the initiative is put on the next general election ballot. The secretary of state verifies the signatures through a random sampling of 5 percent of submitted signatures working in collaboration with county recorders. If the random sampling indicates that valid signatures equal to between 95 percent and 105 percent of the required number were submitted, a full check of all signatures is required. If the random sampling shows fewer signatures, the petition fails. If the random sampling shows more, the initiative is certified for the ballot.
Stages of this ballot initiative
- On September 30, 2022, Raise the Wage AZ submitted the application for the petition.[4]
- On July 3, 2024, Raise the Wage submitted 354,278 signatures.[5]
- Raise the Wage AZ withdrew the signatures it submitted for its initiative on August 8, 2024. Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, said, "We expect that after litigation and challenges from the (Arizona Restaurant Association) we will likely not have enough signatures to meet the qualification threshold. The effort, resources and time required to litigate lead us to believe our resources are best directed towards fighting against the measure being pushed by the restaurant association and to work on building the grassroots effort for city-level measures and a statewide bill."[6]
| Lawsuit overview | |
| Issue: Whether signatures collected by the campaign are valid | |
| Court: Maricopa County Superior Court | |
| Ruling: Ruled against the initiative through a consent decree agreed to by the Arizona Restaurant Association and One Fair Wage | |
| Plaintiff(s): Arizona Restaurant Association | Defendant(s): Raise the Wage AZ |
Source: AZ Mirror
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "One Fair Wage Act," accessed January 4, 2022
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Arizona Secretary of State, "Official Ballot Measure Language," accessed July 27, 2024
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "2024 General Election Initiative, Referendum, and Recall Applications," accessed January 4, 2022
- ↑ AZ Mirror, "Ballot measure aims to raise the minimum wage in Arizona to $18 an hour," July 3, 2024
- ↑ AZ Mirror, "Group abandons minimum wage ballot measure hours before judge rules against it," accessed August 9, 2024
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