Ballot propositions: know where you stand
Joseph Starkloff
With the Nov. 2 midterm elections mere weeks away, campaign signs have scattered along the streets of central Ariz. Polling locations can be found at https://voter.azsos.gov/voterview/polingplacesearch.do. Arizona’s official government website recently released synopsis of the propositions that are up for a vote.
Prop. 106:
This is the “Health Care Services Initiative.”
A yes vote will forbid the enactment of any laws that obligate participation in any health care system, and allow an individual or employer to, “forego health insurance and pay or receive payment for health care directly with a penalty.”
If it passes this election, there is a possibility it will challenge recent health-care reform, and will be legally challenged by the federal government.
www.azhealthcarefreedom.com, a website that supports proposition 106, stated that Ariz. would be able to defend the measure due to the U.S. Court not having any previous cases that allows the federal government to regulate health care.
Prop. 107:
The “Arizona Civil Right Initiative” will prohibit public institutions from giving preferential treatment or discriminating “against any person or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin” in the process of public employment, public education, or public contracting
Prop. 109:
This proposition pertains to the right to hunt and fish in Ariz.
A yes vote would make hunting, fishing, and harvesting wildlife a constitutional right and provide the state legislature ability to regulate such activities.
It would also prohibit laws that, “unreasonably restrict hunting, fishing, and harvesting wildlife or the use of traditional means and methods, and establishing hunting and finishing as preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.”
Prop. 110:.
A yes vote would authorize the, “sale or lease of stated trust land without auction or advertisement in order to protect military installation.”
Supporters of the measure state that military bases are essential to the state economy, and there protection is a necessity.
Opponents of the measure argue that public land has been exchanged for deals that benefit developers instead of the public in the past, and this would only accelerate it.
Prop. 111:
With a yes vote this measure would change the name of the office and Secretary of State to the office of Lieutenant Governor, and require that, “each party’s nominees for Governor and Lieutenant Governor run as a team in the general election.”
The end product would be a governmental structure where the Governor and Lieutenant Governor are always part of the same political party.
Prop. 112:
A yes vote on this proposition would expand the initiative filing deadline from four months to six months prior to the general election it pertains to.
Measures similar to this have failed in the past.
Prop. 113:
A yes vote would insure the right of individuals to vote by secret-ballot, and make it mandatory for workers organizing a labor union to have a secret-ballot election as a requisite to structure the union.
Alan Korwin, from gunlaws.com, stated that the proposition would prevent, “union thugs from organizing by learning and threatening voters’ choices.”
Opponents of the law stated that it would force secret-ballots on workers even if they agreed to skip it.
Prop. 203:
A yes vote on this measure would authorize the use of medical marijuana.
If passed, the Arizona Department of Health Services would be in charge of regulating and licensing its use and provision.
Prop. 301:
This is known as the “Land Conservation Fund Transfer” measure.
A yes vote would transfer voter protected money in the land conservation fund to the state general fund.
It is designed as a way to fill the holes in the state budget.
Prop. 302:
This is another measure used to fill holes in the state budget. A yes vote would repeal the early childhood development program, First Things First, to put its funding into the general fund.
First Things First funding comes from the state tax implemented on the sale of cigarettes.
The tax would not be repealed, but its collections would go into the general fund.
Information on First Things First can be found at www.azftf.gov
