SB 1560 Arizona Senate · 57th Legislature - First Regular Session

referendums; strict compliance

SB 1560 tightens Arizona's referendum and initiative petition process by requiring strict adherence to procedural rules. It mandates that petitioners submit complete applications - including a 200-word description, full text in 8-point type, and organizational details - before printing signatures. The Secretary of State must assign serial numbers only for complete applications and provide written rejection reasons within two business days. This directly affects individuals or groups seeking to place measures on ballots via petition, requiring stricter upfront compliance for signature gathering.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Feb 10, 2025 Last action Mar 12, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Senate Engrossed Version · 4 edits · Mar 4, 2025

MODERATE

This bill amends Arizona's referendum laws to clarify the Secretary of State's authority to enforce strict compliance with referendum requirements. The changes primarily standardize language around enforcement powers and petition application procedures, removing references to 'other officers in charge of elections' and consolidating responsibilities with the Secretary of State.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on referendum and initiative petition processes, but enforcement authority is now more clearly centralized with the Secretary of State rather than being shared with other election officials.

ENFORCEMENT

Changed the Secretary of State's enforcement authority from 'may enforce' to 'may enforce strict compliance' to clarify the scope of enforcement power.

REQUIREMENT

Removed references to 'other officer in charge of elections' throughout the bill, consolidating petition and application responsibilities solely with the Secretary of State.

TECHNICAL

Standardized capitalization and formatting of key terms like 'complete and correct application' and 'statement of organization' for consistency.

Deleted redundant phrases and formatting artifacts from the introduced version that were not present in the final engrossed version.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

PASSED

upper

Feb 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

DPA

upper

Feb 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors