Homeless in Arizona

Arizona Secretary of State - Elections

Information on writing initiatives for Arizona Constitution

It's time to re-legalize all drugs!

I am planning on writing a petition to legalize marijuana in Arizona and a petition to legalize all drugs in Arizona.

I guess that is wrong and I should really say I am planning on writing a petition to re-legalize marijuana in Arizona and a petition to re-legalize all drugs in Arizona.

Arizona Secretary of State website

This is the Arizona Secretary of State website.

Arizona Secretary of State - Elections Services

Elections Services can be contacted at:

(602)542-8683
elections@azsos.gov
Arizona Secretary of State
Elections Services Division
7th Floor
1700 West Washington
Phoenix, AZ
85007

Arizona Secretary of State - Elections Services Division - 1700 West Washington - Phoenix, AZ

Bill Drafting Manual

The people at the

Arizona Legislative Council

have this Bill Drafting Manual at:

www.azleg.gov/alisPDFs/council/2015-2016_bill_drafting_manual.pdf

Initially I claimed that that they they lied. I couldn't find their stinking "Bill Drafting Manual".

But the screw up was on MY part!!!!

Signatures needed for initiatives

The number of signatures needed to get an initiative on the ballot changes from year to year and is based on the number of people that voted in the previous election.

For the 2014 elections it was:

Type	%	Signatures
Initiative - Statute	10%	172,809
Initiative - Constitutional	15%	259,213
Referendum	5%	86,405

Ballot Measure Committee

If you are going to spend over $500 or something like that you have to create a

Ballot Measure Committee

You can to to the Arizona Secretary of State's web site at this link and create that committee.

First go to this link which is:

https://azsos.gov/CFS2/Login.aspx

Then click on the link that says:

Create new Committee

which is

https://azsos.gov/CFS2/BeginSetup.aspx?ft=c

I tried to create my LAD and RAD or Legalize All Drugs and Re-legalize All Drugs groups but there website is too screwed up so I quit doing it.

Having the Arizona Legislative Council review your initiative

For some reason I thought that JBLC or JLBC will review your initiatives. That is wrong. The Arizona Legislative Council does.

They are at:

Arizona Legislative Council
1700 W. Washington St., Ste 100
Phoenix, AZ
85007
602.926.4236
www.azleg.gov/az_leg_council/default.htm

Getting Arizona Legislative Council review it

I talked to Mike Braun at Arizona Legislative Council on reviewing my initiative and he said they are the folks that will do it.

He said to get a scope of what is supposed to happen look at

ARS 19-111.01

He warned me that anything they do is public records so whatever they say about the proposed initiative will be available to anybody on the planet via the public records laws.

He said I can email him the proposed law at:

mbraun@azleg.gov

And here is a copy of ARS 19-111.01

ARS 19-111.01 Text review; legislative council; recommendations
A. At any time before filing an application for initiative petition or referendum petition and after filing a statement of organization pursuant to section 16-902.01, a political committee that intends to submit an application for initiative petition or referendum petition for a proposed law or constitutional amendment may submit a copy of the text of the proposed law, referral or constitutional amendment to the director of the legislative council.
B. No later than thirty days after receipt of the text of the measure, the legislative council staff shall review the proposed measure. The legislative council staff shall limit its consideration to errors in the drafting of the measure, confusing, conflicting or inconsistent provisions within the measure and conflicts with other state laws and federal law and shall consider and may prepare recommendations to improve the text of the proposed measure.
C. The person or organization proposing the law or constitutional amendment may accept, modify or reject any recommendations made by the legislative council staff regarding the text of the measure solely in its discretion

Having JBLC - JLBC review your initiative

This is WRONG!!!!! I screwed it up!!!!!

JBLC or JLBC doesn't review your bills!!!!!!

The Arizona Legislative Council does and for more information check out the blurb just before this section.

I talked to

Steve Schimpp

and he said that the folks at JBLC or JLBC don't do any of the things the Arizona Secretary of State's office claims they do.

I don't know if Steve Schimpp was the wrong person to talk to, or if the folks at JLBC don't do any of the things that the Arizona Secretary of State's office claims they do.

As a result of that I sent this email on Thursday, Jan 22, 2015 and an waiting for a response from them.

My problem is I always want to call them JBLC, not their correct name of JLBC. After you write your initiative you can have JBLC - JLBC review it for their thoughts on if it's constitutional and how it works with existing laws and other stuff.

I think JBLC stands for

Joint Budget Legislative Committee

Their contact information is:

JBLC
Joint Budget Legislative Committee
Joint Legislative Budget Committee
1716 W Adams
Phoenix, AZ
(602)926-5491
www.azleg.gov/jlbc.htm

Joint Budget Legislative Committee - JBLC - Joint Budget Legislative Committee - 1716 W Adams - (602)926-5491

Form for each initiative

Application for initiative or referendum petition serial number

For each initiative you file fill out one of these forms.

In my case I am going to file two initiatives. One initiative to legalize marijuana, and one initiative to legalize ALL drugs, including marijuana.

In that case I will need two of these forms.

You put a description of 100 words or less about your initiative on this form and attach a copy of your initiative to the form when you turn it in.

Dennis Bohlke - Legalize Marijuana 2016

Here is a PDF of an initiative to legalize marijuana in Arizona on the 2016 ballot.

And here is a copy of the initiative I made for my own copy