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AZ Court Decisions On Nov Ballot: Invest In Ed And Dark Money Off, Clean Energy On

By Claire Caulfield
Published: Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 10:43am
Updated: Thursday, August 30, 2018 - 11:25am

The Arizona Supreme court ruled Wednesday that the Invest in Ed measure will not appear on November's ballot due to an omission that "creates a significant danger of confusion or unfairness.''

That was just one of the decisions affecting Arizona’s upcoming midterm elections.

The justices also turned down a plea from backers of a ban on “dark money,” saying that ballot measure did not have enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot.

The initiative would have overturned existing laws that allow groups established under the Internal Revenue Code as "social welfare organizations'' to spend money to influence state and local races without disclosing the source of their donors. They wanted any individual that put in at least $2,500 to be named.

A check of a random sample of the petitions found they came up just 2,017 short of the 225,963 needed to put the issue on the November ballot.

However, the state Supreme Court ruled voters will decide whether half of the state’s energy should come from renewable sources by 2050, striking down a bid from APS's parent company, to block the clean energy initiative.

The Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona proposal, also known as Proposition 127, will appear on the November ballot.

The current mandate says 15 percent of the state’s energy should come from renewables by 2025.

APS has said proposal would cause utility rates to rise and harm reliability. A large amount of the renewable energy campaign's funding has come from a group backed by San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer. Supporters say Arizona hasn't taken advantage of its role as the nation's sunniest state to develop more solar energy.

This is most likely the final word from the legal system as the Secretary of State’s office starts printing ballots next month.

Politics Sustainability