Backers of extending the state's temporary 1-cent sales tax submitted more than 290,000 signatures Monday to put the issue on the November ballot.
But at this point all they've really done is guaranteed a court fight.
Backers of the Quality Education and Jobs initiative said the state cannot afford to give up the $1 billion a year that will go away once the voter-approved tax self-destructs at the end of this coming May. The measure, if approved, would make the levy permanent, with a specific set of instructions on how the money is divided.
Ann-Eve Pedersen, organizer of the drive, said the dedicated revenues source is designed to replace the funds that lawmakers have taken from education in prior years to balance the budget. The measure also is set up so that legislators cannot raid those funds in times of future needs.
Some of the funds also are earmarked for other programs, including health care for children and university scholarships. And a share would go to road and other projects designed to stimulate the construction industry.
All that, however, presumes the issue will ever get to voters.
State law spells out that no signatures can be gathered before circulators submit "the text of the proposed law'' to the Secretary of State's Office. But the paper version of the measure submitted in March does not precisely match what was on the petitions that voters were asked to sign.
Pedersen acknowledged the paper copy was of an earlier version of the measure. But she pointed out that an accurate copy was submitted at the same time, on a computer disc.
She said that meets the legal requirements.
Matt Roberts, a spokesman for the office, said his agency will be reviewing the law over the next few days to determine whether the petitions should be formally accepted. No matter what is decided, though, the issue will end up in court.
Pedersen said her organization will sue if the petitions are rejected. The group already has retained Stanley Feldman, a former state Supreme Court justice.
But Kevin McCarthy, executive director of the Arizona Tax Research Association which opposes the initiative, vowed his own lawsuit if the petitions are accepted.
He said there is no difference of how the money is divided for the first $1 billion collected.
But after that point, McCarthy said, the paper version -- the one the Secretary of State's Office has posted online -- gives more to education than the version actually circulated, which diverts more for construction projects. That difference of who benefits, he said, amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 7:15 am on Tue, Jun 26, 2012.
Wait a dog-gone minute here, Folks. If you tell the voters with one hand that their hard-earned Tax Dollars are going almost 100% to Education for little Johnny and little Jill and then on the other hand you are really going to be sending.....HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF THEIR HARD-EARNED TAX DOLLARS TO ........
TEAMSTERS UNION WORKERS
THE CONSTRUCTION WORKERS OF AMERICA UNION WORKERS
THE ELECTRICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA UNION WORKERS
THE CEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA UNION MEMBERS
THE PUBLIC SECTOR TRANSPORTATION WORKERS OF AMERICA UNION MEMBERS.
JUST WHO PAID FOR THIS INITIATIVE TO BE CIRCULATED.....YOUR LOCAL ...PTA MOMS............OR SOME .."CHICAGO-TYPE".....UNION LEADERS ???
COULD SOME OF OUR INTREPID........ASU-CRONKITE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM GRADUATES DO SOME BASIC ........"JOURNALISM 101"...INVESTIGATION OF THIS INITIATIVE.............ARE THE HARD-EARNED TAX DOLLARS OF MILLIONS OF ARIZONIANS GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT JOHNNY AND JILL ARE GETTING THE BEST EDUCATION ...OR THAT ...."HEAVY-SET DARK SUITED MIDDLE-AGED MEN IN CHICAGO, DETROIT, NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY WITH PERMANENT 5 O'CLOCK SHADOWS GOING TO .............REAP THE BOUNTY FROM THESE HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF............."C.O.N.S.T.R.U.C.T.I.O.N." ...DOLLARS.
WERE .."TWO SETS".....OF INITIATIVE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO THE ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE.....THE ONE FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION AND THE "REAL" ONE .............INNOCENTLY SUBMITTED (ALTHOUGH HOW YOU COULD MIS-PLACE HUNDREDS OF PAGES FROM ONE INTITIATIVE PROPOSAL....IS KINDA HARD TO SWALLOW).......IN ERROR.
LET'S NOT FOLLOW THE DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES....BARACK HUSSEIN O-BLAME-A......AND RULE BY DICTAT.......LET'S LET A JUDGE DECIDE IF A SIMPLE MISTAKE WAS MADE.......OR SOME THING MORE..............SINISTER.
quietgardens posted at 12:49 pm on Tue, Jun 26, 2012.
"Some of the funds also are earmarked for other programs, including health care for children and university scholarships. And a share would go to road and other projects designed to stimulate the construction industry."
I agree with Leon...an extension of an "education sales tax" going to pay for health care, scholarships and road and construction projects?? Why don't you just call it what it is, gouging the American public and lying about where the real money goes. I say audit the state finances, cut the fat, and balance the budget. That in itself will save a ton money.