Senate President Karen Fann | Facebook
Senate President Karen Fann | Facebook
A short legislative session focusing on preventing the spread of COVID-19 threatens several ballot proposals in Arizona.
In Arizona, there are over a dozen proposals that could be on the November ballot, but they need to be approved by the House and Senate before making it onto the ballot. With the focus on COVID-19, none of the proposals have made in through both of the chambers.
A handful of the proposals have made it through the House or the Senate, depending on where they were introduced, but still haven't advanced.
If lawmakers choose to move forward with a "skinny budget," the proposals will become debatable.
Senate President Karen Fann said there's too much to do outside of the budget and it's uncertain what the status of COVID-19 will be in a few weeks. Fann said she thinks the budget should be passed with an indefinite recess following, but not adjournment.
“We need to leave options open if we need to come back in two months and do something else because there might be something new that we’re not even aware of right now that we will need to address,” Fann told the Arizona Capitol Times.
If the session is adjourned without finishing adding lieutenant governor to the ballot or making changes to the Arizona Medial Marijuana Act, these changes and proposals added to the ballot would have to wait until the next election.
The lieutenant governor would be the governor's running mate, which makes it important to have the position on the ballot, but the position won't appear on the ballot if the Legislature session is adjourned.
Sen. Sonny Borrelli has been trying to have marijuana tested for pesticides, but this would need a three-fourths vote in both the House and Senate. The proposal that could be added to the ballot would as voters if marijuana and other products should be tested for pesticides. This would also create a new tax. His proposal passed in the Senate.
November's ballot could turn out to be much smaller than expected with COVID-19 circulating and pushing back the voting of proposals for the ballot.
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