A highly controversial initiative that seeks to put the brakes on Arizona's ballot initiative process was certified to appear on the 2008 ballot by Secretary of State Jan Brewer on Aug. 25.

Prop. 105, the Majority Rules initiative, seeks to require future ballot initiatives that raise taxes or obligate state spending be approved by at least a majority of registered voters for the proposals to become law.

Proponents of the initiative, which Brewer found to have at least 98 percent of the minimum amount of signatures needed to qualify, argue it is necessary to make it more difficult for well-financed special interest groups to push their costly agendas by putting measures to a public vote.

Contributors to the Majority Rules campaign include the fast food and liquor industries and Tucson auto dealer Jim Click. According to a recent campaign finance report, the campaign committee has raised approximately $565,000.

Backer Nathan Sproul said the committee was "ecstatic" at the qualification of the proposal, which he thinks of as the first serious attempt to address the state's "near-crisis" budget shortfall – a condition he partially attributed to government spending mandated by successful ballot initiatives.

"Something has to be done to curtail the ability of special interests to use the initiative process as their own personal ATM machines (automated teller machine)," Sproul said.

A ballot initiative committee headed by the Arizona Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, has formed to oppose the measure. The committee has collected about $95,000 from educational associations and a firefighters' union.

John Wright, AEA president and chairman of the No on Prop. 105 committee, wrote in the secretary of state's publicity pamphlet that the measure is a "deceptive" effort that makes it "nearly impossible" for citizens to use the ballot to make impacts on public policy.

The measure is also being opposed by a host of environmental groups, proponents of publicly funded political campaigns, former lawmakers, current candidates, women's organizations and animal rights advocates.

Brewer's announcement of the qualifying of the Majority Rules initiative came with a detectable dose of resentment that measures are being approved for the ballot even though it is not clear they have the minimum amount of needed signatures to qualify.

Typically, initiatives that are estimated to have between 95 and 105 percent of the required number of valid signatures to appear on the ballot trigger an automatic hand-count by counties to ensure they are fit to qualify.

BuBrewer's release says the approval of the Majority Rules initiative came as a result of advice from her attorneys and she called for the state Legislature or the courts to enact clarifications explaining why measures that do not clearly qualify should go to voters. t this year is different, as several counties have notified the Secretary of State's Office that they do not have the means to conduct time consuming hand-counts.

And a result of a decades-old court decision, several initiatives this year have been granted access to the ballot even though it is not clear they had the minimum amount of signatures.

In 1983, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the benefit of the doubt must be given to the ballot initiative committees when it ordered the Save Our Public Lands Coalition initiative to appear on the ballot.

"Hopefully the Legislature or the courts will help clarify in the future how it is that 98 percent really means 100 percent when it comes to the signature requirements of a citizen initiative," she said.