House to debate bills targeting voter initiative rules

BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press

The Arizona House has scheduled debates on a series of Republican-sponsored bills that would alter how citizen initiatives make the ballot.

The Thursday debates come as Republicans angered over voter approval of a minimum wage initiative in November mount a full-court press that Democrats says is designed to make it harder for voter-driven proposals to make the ballot.

Among the bills is one that makes major changes in how signatures to qualify initiatives for the ballot are collected. It bans paying per signature and imposes a raft of new rules. Another proposal asks voters to require signatures to be collected from each legislative district rather than statewide.

Two others would repeal or modify the Voter Protection Act, which bars the Legislature from making substantive changes to voter-approved laws.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.