Arizona bills SB 1425 and HB 2022 are almost certain to pass the legislature. The House passed it unanimously on February 2 and the Senate Judiciary Committee passed it unanimously on February 4. They move the non-presidential primary from the first Tuesday in August to the next to last Tuesday in July. The bill takes effect this year. Because candidates are already circulating petitions, the bills say that petitions are not invalid just because they say that this year’s primary is August 4 (under the bills, the primary will be July 21). UPDATE: the Senate passed the bill on February 5.

Assuming the bills become law, the deadline for a petition to create a new party moves from late November to mid-November of the odd year before the election year, a deadline that is almost certainly unconstitutional. No other state except Utah has a deadline to create a new party that is in the odd year before the election year.