Assigned to JUDE AS PASSED BY COW
ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Regular Session
AMENDED
FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1560
referendums; strict compliance
Purpose
Allows the Secretary of State (SOS) to enforce compliance with the constitutional and
statutory requirements for referendum. Outlines requirements related to initiative and referendum
applications and the rejection of an initiative or referendum application.
Background
The Arizona Constitution grants the people the power to: 1) propose laws and amendments
to the Constitution; 2) enact or reject laws and amendments at the polls, independent of the
Legislature; and 3) approve or reject any item, section or part of any act of the Legislature at the
polls. The initiative power requires 10 percent of the qualified electors to propose any law and 15
percent of the qualified electors to propose an amendment to the Arizona Constitution, and the
referendum power requires 5 percent of the qualified electors to refer to the people any measure,
item or section or part of any measure enacted by the Legislature, except as prescribed. The powers
of initiative and referendum are further reserved to the qualified electors of every incorporated
city, town and county. For city, town and county matters 15 percent of the qualified electors may
propose and initiative measure and 10 percent may propose a referendum (Ariz. Const. art. 4
pt. 1, § 1).
A person or organization intending to file an initiative or referendum petition must first file
with the SOS, on a form provided by the SOS, an application that contains: 1) the person's name
or, if an organization, the organization's name and the names and titles of the organization's
officers; 2) the person or organization's address; 3) the person or organization's intention to
circulate and file a petition; 4) a 200 word maximum description of the proposed law, constitutional
amendment or measure; and 5) the text of the proposed law, constitutional amendment or measure
to be initiated or referred in at least eight point type. The person or organization must file a
statement of organization with the SOS at the same time the application is filed, and the SOS may
not accept an application for initiative or referendum without an accompanying statement of
organization. On receipt of the application the SOS must assign an official serial number to the
petition and issue the number to the applicant (A.R.S. § 19-111).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this
legislation.
Provisions
1. Allows the SOS to enforce strict compliance with the constitutional and statutory requirements
for a referendum. FACT SHEET – Amended
S.B. 1560
Page 2
2. Specifies that an application for initiative or referendum must be complete and correct for the
SOS to accept the application.
3. Specifies that the SOS must assign an initiative or referendum petition a serial number upon
receipt of a complete and correct application with an accompanying statement of organization,
rather than on receipt of the application.
4. Stipulates that, if the SOS rejects an application for a petition serial number, the SOS must
provide the applicant, within two business days, a written statement of the reason for the
rejection.
5. Defines complete and correct application as an application that:
a) contains all of the required information;
b) includes a description of a maximum of 200 words; and
c) is in the most recent form prescribed by the SOS for initiatives and referendums.
6. Makes technical and conforming changes.
7. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole
1. Removes the specification that other officers in charge of elections may enforce strict
compliance with the constitutional and statutory requirements for a referendum.
2. Removes the inclusion of other officers in charge of elections in exercising the duties
associated with accepting or rejecting an application for an initiative or referendum petition
serial number.
3. Makes conforming changes.
Senate Action
JUDE 2/19/25 DP 4-3-0
Prepared by Senate Research
February 27, 2025
ZD/KS/ci