The following alert comes from Animal Defense League of Arizona (www.adlaz.org). Please take action to help protect our citizen initiatives!

Help Stop Bill Aimed at Citizens Initiatives!

Please ask Senate committee members to oppose HCR2044 voter-protection; temporary budgetary suspension (Pearce, Barnes, Biggs, Burges)

Euphemistically titled ‘Voter-Protection’, this bill actually grants the Legislature authority to divert funds enacted by initiatives. In 1998, the year that Arizonans passed a citizens’ initiative that banned cockfighting, voters also passed The Voter Protection Act, a Constitutional amendment which forbids the Legislature from undercutting initiatives passed by voters. HCR 2044 would circumvent The Voter Protection Act to allow lawmakers to strip funding for initiatives they don’t like..

The Tucson Citizen ran a great editorial on this measure. Click here to read it. We also like Sandy Bahr’s comments on HCR 2044:

Sandy Bahr, director of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the whole point of initiatives is to address issues to which the Legislature has been unresponsive. She characterizes the measure as a "power grab."

"I understand why the Legislature wants more power," Bahr said. "The citizen-initiative rights are a check on legislative power." Arizona Republic, Apr. 2, 2008

WHAT YOU CAN DO

HCR 2044 will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, April 15. Please contact the committee members below and urge them to Vote NO on HCR 2044. If you volunteered on Prop 204 or other initiatives, please share your thoughts on the importance of Arizona’s citizen initiative process. If your Senator is a committee member, let him or her know that you are a constituent in their district.

Paula Aboud
paboud@azleg.gov
602-926-5262

Amanda Aguirre
aaguirre@azleg.gov
602-926-4139

Carolyn S. Allen
callen@azleg.gov
602-926-4480

Robert "Bob" Burns
rburns@azleg.gov
602-926-5993

Jake Flake
jflake@azleg.gov
602-926-5219

Jorge Luis Garcia
jgarcia@azleg.gov
602-926-4171

Albert Hale
ahale@azleg.gov
602-926-4323

Jack W. Harper
jharper@azleg.gov
602-926-4178

John Huppenthal
jhuppenthal@azleg.gov
602-926-5261

Karen Johnson
kjohnson@azleg.gov
602-926-3160

Jim Waring
jwaring@azleg.gov
602-926-4916

All Senators can be reached toll-free at 1-800-352-8404

Please forward this to your contacts in Arizona. Thank you for forwarding any responses you receive to legislative@adlaz.org