A judge has slapped down efforts by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry to block people from voting whether to hike income taxes on the rich to generate $690 million a year for education.

A judge on Tuesday refused to block a new state law making it easier for opponents to challenge citizen initiatives, but she sidestepped a decision on whether the law violates the state Constitution.

Attorneys for the state are trying to block challengers to newly enacted initiative restrictions from telling their story to a judge. The lawyers contend that the claims of those who contend the new law will harm future petition efforts are "fanciful and not genuine.''

Whether all or some of the bills passes, progressive groups are left reeling and undecided about how to address a problem that seemed simple as one bill, but daunting as three.

Now that Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill that could hamper citizens’ initiatives, advocacy groups are contemplating several potential ways to fend off the bill’s provisions.

Republican lawmakers are poised to advance yet another salvo aimed at the initiative process, one that would put even more dampers than already enacted on the right of Arizonans to propose their own laws

Not content to make gathering signatures more difficult, Republican lawmakers are now moving to impose new procedural requirements on voters who want to propose their own laws.

Legislation banning voter initiative backers from paying petition circulators for each signature they gather is on its way to Gov. Doug Ducey's desk.

When Republican Rep. Vince Leach proposed a bill to ban paying petition circulators for citizens’ initiatives on a per-signature basis, Democrats were collectively outraged and denounced the bill as an “attack on democracy.”

Republican lawmakers agreed Wednesday to ask voters to throw another hurdle in the path of their ability to write their own laws.