A group hoping to pass a tobacco tax to create programs to improve the health and education of children is leading all ballot measure committees in reported contributions by collecting almost $2 million in large contributions since Jan. 1.
The proposal, First Things First for Arizona’s Children, would levy a tax of 80-cents-per-pack of cigarettes to raise $150 million annually for children’s medical and literacy projects. The current tax in Arizona is $1.18 a pack.
Major contributors to the initiative include Fulton Homes, Vanderbilt Farms, the Arizona Cardinals and land developer Ross Farnsworth.
Another registered group in support of the proposed initiative, Arizonans for a Fair Beginning, has collected $225,000 in large contributions.
Tobacco would also be taxed under a proposed initiative by Smoke Free Arizona, which seeks to ban smoking in enclosed spaces and places of employment.
The group is the second leading receiver of contributions. Since Jan. 1, the first campaign finance disclosure deadline, the group has collected about $310,000 in donations of at least $10,000.
State disclosure requirements state that contributions to ballot measure committees equal to or in excess of $10,000 must be reported to the Secretary of State’s Office within 24 hours of the transaction.
Ballot committees must report all contributions and expenditures regardless of size on several established reporting dates. The first was Jan. 1, for campaign activities between Nov. 23, 2004, through Dec. 31, 2005, and the second report is due on June 30, for activities between Jan. 1, 2006, and May 31, 2006.
Additional reporting dates are also established before and after the primary and general elections.
Proposed initiatives require 122,612 valid signatures of registered voters in Arizona to get on the ballot. Proposed amendments to the state constitutional need 183,917 signatures. In both cases, signatures must be turned over to the Secretary of State’s Office by July 6.
Other committees
Other committee fundraising progress from Jan. 1, to May 31, includes:
• Opponents of the Protect Marriage Initiative, a proposed constitutional amendment to bar same-sex couples from marriage and from enjoying similar legal status, raised $221,000, including $100,000 from the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights advocacy group.
The amount is more than double that raised by the initiative’s supporters, who have gathered about $95,000 from groups such as the Center for Arizona Policy and United Families International.
• Supporters of a plan to protect 690,000 acres of state lands for conservation purposes have collected $190,800 in contributions. The group, Conserving Arizona’s Future, has also received funding from the Arizona Conservation Campaign, a registered ballot measure committee also in support of the proposed constitutional amendment. The proposal, which would also help to provide educational funding, is a constitutional amendment.
• The Homeowners Protection Effort has filed a complete report detailing contributions and expenditures relating to its efforts to strengthen property rights protections against the use of eminent domain. It has collected $186,600 in contributions, mainly from the groups Fund for Democracy and Americans for Limited Government.
• Bullhead City businessman L. Rick Murphy has donated $140,500 to his committee Your Right to Vote, which seeks to create a vote-by-mail system in Arizona.
• The Campaign for Arizona Farmers and Ranchers collected $118,000 to fight a proposed initiative by Arizonans for Humane Farms, which would alter the methods calves raised for veal and pregnant pigs are held.
• The Arizona Minimum Wage Coalition raised about $68,000 since Jan. 1, in an effort to establish a state minimum wage beginning at $6.75 an hour. The wage would also adjust each year to accommodate inflation and cost of living increases.
• Arizonans for Voter Rewards, a group seeking to establish a state lottery that would randomly award a single voter a $1 million jackpot, has collected $49,000 from its chairman, Mark Osterloh.
• The Arizona Tax Revolt collected 311 individual contributions totaling $25,000 from Jan. 1 to May 31. The group seeks a constitutional amendment to roll back property taxes to 2003 levels and establish a tax cap, similar to Proposition 13 passed in California in 1978.
• The Arizona Non-Smoker Protection Committee has collected more than $21,000 from tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds and the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association to help push a proposal that would ban smoking in most indoor places while leaving an exemption for bars and tobacco shops.
• Keep Arizona Free, a group in support of a proposed initiative that would allow property and business owners to decide if smoking is permissible at their establishments, shows no campaign activity.