The House of Representatives today approved a measure requiring campaign material, advertisements and ballots to include warnings that it is difficult to change ballot measures once they are approved by Arizona voters.

The full House approved HB 2007 along party lines with Republicans supporting the measure and Democrats against it.

The bill would require all advertisements for or against ballot measures, election pamphlets and official ballots to include a reminder that the voter approved measures are nearly permanent.

Proposition 105, which the voters approved in 1998, states that ballot initiatives and referendums cannot be repealed by the Legislature.  Changes can only be enacted by a three-fourths vote from both chambers, and then only to further the purpose of the measure.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Michelle Ugenti of Scottsdale, likened the measure to shopping at a store that did not accept returns.

“If you were walking in the store and there was a sign that said ‘All sales final, no returns,’ would that have an impact on your purchase? Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t but that’s (a decision) for the shopper or voter to make on their own,” Ugenti told the Capitol Times last month.

There was no debate on the floor, but Democrats previously argued that the bill was unnecessary because voters are already aware that such measures are all but permanent.

Democratic Rep. Bruce Wheeler of Tucson said the constant reminder equates to a scare tactic to keep voters from approving initiatives. He said he voted against the measure because it is a burden on campaign committees, forcing them to include the warnings in their material.

“I think it’s a burden on the First Amendment.  It’s making someone say something that they don’t necessarily want to say,” he said.

Besides the First Amendment issues, Wheeler questioned the language of the notice, which states that if approved, the “measure can never be changed in the future if approved on the ballot except by a three-fourths vote of the Legislature and the change furthers the purpose of the original ballot measure, or by referring the change to the ballot.”

Wheeler takes issue with the word “never” because it can be changed, and the “referring the change to the ballot” portion because changes must be approved by voters, not just referred to the ballot.

The House also approved a bill to keep names of lottery prizewinners confidential. Republican Rep. John Kavanagh of Fountain Hills sponsored the measure after a constituent struck it rich on the lottery, and newspapers filed a records request to get the winners name.

The bill, HB2082, would still allow the winners city and county to be public information, and the winner could have his name released to the media if they wished. A handful of Democrats opposed the measure, but it passed 51 to 8.

Finally, the House voted to approve a measure taking one of the first steps towards the common core standards in public education. The bill, HB2047, would phase out and eventually eliminate the AIMS test and replace it with a new test developed by the state board of education.