Citizens in Charge

The Arizona Legislature worked throught the night last and adjourned at 7:30 this morning. Before they left, and in the middle of the night, they passed Senate Bill 1091 to close off the ballot initiative process and make it harder for citizens to have a say in their government.

SB 1091 not only falls hard on elderly Arizona voters who will no longer be able to get someone to help them fill out a petition, but it flies in the face of a 2008 ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Last year that court struck down the state’s ban on people from other states helping to circulate petitions. So, as a response to the court telling the Arizona legislature that their previous law violated the US Constitution, the legislature passed an almost identical law. Arizona taxpayers are likely to foot the bill for another costly lawsuit over the new law.