On March 2, the Arizona legislature passed HB 4115. It requires initiative circulators who are being paid to tell every person approached, and to say what state the circulator lives in, and that the circulator is being paid. Here is the text. This may violate the First Amendment, which protects against compelled speech.
Isn’t a ballot on which writing-in a candidate compelled speech?
The whole approach on initiatives is wrong. They should make them EASY to get and the ballot but HARD to pass, NOT the other way around. It shouldn’t matter if hirelings from anywhere put initiatives on the ballot, BUT it should matter how many votes are needed to pass, whether the legislature can make amendments, or even reject the initiative altogether. Legislatures always retain the power to amend or repeal initiatives, anyway, so what’s the problem?
I can’t make heads or tails of Mr. Robinson’s question or its relevance.
Mr. Winger,
A number of states have laws which require petitioners to read out the summary, or how much they are paid and by whom, etc. Some states require circulators to tell people they can’t vote in the primary if they put a minor party on the ballot (off the top of my head Texas and at one time West Virginia). Are all those compelled speech? If it’s unconstitutional why have not all those states been sued?
Some circulators don’t have a permanent address and only live wherever they are working, so presumably they would not be breaking this law if they say they live in Arizona, correct? Your summary does not say they have to say how long they have lived there or how long they intend to stay.
“Legislatures always retain the power to amend or repeal initiatives, anyway, so what’s the problem?”
That’s only true in a few states.
Good bill. Arizona voters need to know commie Californians are trying to run their elections.
Anything which makes initiatives harder to qualify and pass is good, since division of labor is good. Let legislators legislate, don’t force me to do their job or live with the consequences of my even less competent neighbors doing so. The same is true about fixing cars and toilets, etc.
Disclosure about out of state influence and motives seems like a good idea to me as well.
Fp, good question. The bill says the circulator must reveal the state in which he or she “legally resides”. People can have many residences, so now that I think about it, maybe that is a way around the bill.
I’m just a rolling stone
Wherever I lay my head is my home
And when I die one day or night I’ll be alone