1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I urge you to oppose HCR 2051 when it comes before the House Federalism, Military Affairs and Elections Committee this Wednesday. This resolution would place unnecessary barriers on Arizona's initiative and referendum process, making it significantly harder for citizens to exercise their constitutional right to direct democracy. The measure imposes burdensome requirements on paid petition circulators that go far beyond reasonable transparency. Under HCR 2051, paid circulators would be required to verbally disclose their first name, state of residence, and paid status to every potential signer while also wearing a visible identification badge. Any signature collected without these disclosures would be automatically void. This creates a new avenue for legal challenges designed to invalidate otherwise valid signatures based on technical violations rather than fraud or misconduct. Arizona already has robust safeguards for the initiative process. HCR 2051's strict compliance mandate in Section 19-102.01 would require constitutional and statutory requirements to be strictly construed, setting up petition drives for failure over minor procedural issues rather than substantive problems. The prohibition on per-signature payment in Section 19-118.01 already addresses concerns about signature fraud. Most troubling is the expansion of these restrictions to municipal and county ballot measures through amendments to Section 19-141. Local communities would face the same onerous requirements as statewide initiatives, making it harder for residents to address local issues through direct democracy. The new mandatory disclosure requirements for any measure proposing expenditures or funding allocations add another layer of complexity that could disqualify local initiatives on technical grounds. These provisions are not about protecting election integrity. They are about making citizen-led ballot measures prohibitively difficult to qualify. Arizona voters deserve the ability to petition their government without facing obstacles designed to discourage participation. I ask you to vote no on HCR 2051 and protect Arizonans' access to the initiative process.