PHOENIX β A California union has given up on its plan to ask Arizona voters to impose new service and cost restrictions on companies that perform dialysis.
The Service Employees International Union has decided to focus its efforts instead on similar measures proposed in California and Ohio, spokesman Sean Wherley told Capitol Media Services Monday.
But thatβs still going to leave Arizonans with lots of ballot issues to decide in November.
The Arizona Association of Realtors is expected to submit petitions Tuesday to impose a constitutional ban on expanding the state sales tax to include services. The stateβs current sales levy is 5.6 percent, mostly on goods.
Other initiative drives likely to file signatures by Thursdayβs 5 p.m. deadline include:
- Putting an income tax surcharge on the top 1 percent of wage earners to pay for education funding;
- Requiring utilities to produce half their power from renewable sources by 2030, not including nuclear;
- Imposing a constitutional requirement for public disclosure of the people and organizations trying to influence elections;
- Legalizing possession of marijuana.
All those are in addition to two measures put on the ballot by lawmakers, one asking voters to undermine some powers of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission; and the other a constitutional amendment to enact cost-of-living adjustments in pensions for retired corrections officers, elected officials and judges.
Voters also will get to decide whether to ratify or reject a measure approved last year by the Republican-controlled Legislature to expand eligibility for who can qualify for taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend private and parochial schools.
dialysis proposal fails to launch
The Service Employees International Union proposal would have sought annual inspections to check for compliance with laws and rules, as well as how dialysis companies are dealing with potentially hazardous waste.
It would also have capped the amount dialysis centers could charge patients at no more than 15 percent above their costs. Any profits that exceeded that amount would have to be refunded.
Wherley conceded the measure was aimed specifically at two firms: Fresenius Kidney Care and DaVita Kidney care. He said the two control more than 80 percent of the licensed dialysis centers in Arizona. He acknowledged that both operate here without SEIU employees.
This isnβt the first time SEIU had started petition drives in its fights with employers.
Two years ago, it crafted an initiative drive to cap the pay of hospital executives at no more than what the president of the United States is paid, or $450,000 a year. After gathering what it said were far more signatures than needed, the union scrapped the effort in the face of challenges to the validity of many of those signatures.
But Wherley sidestepped questions Monday about whether the SEIU was simply using the Arizona initiative process for political purposes in the unionβs ongoing battles with hospitals and health-care employers.
βThereβs only so many states that have ballot initiatives,β he said. βSo we look at them, where does SEIU have a presence, where can health-care workers be benefited, where can patients be benefited. Thatβs kind of the calculus that decides where we introduce an initiative and where we submit signatures to qualify.β
In the end, Wherley said, the union decided to not even try to collect signatures on the Arizona dialysis proposal, even though it filed paperwork in March to circulate petitions.
Other petition drives that failed this year
The union isnβt the only organization to file the paperwork to put a measure on this yearβs ballot but fold its operation before the deadline.
Earlier this year, the Humane Society of the United States pulled the plug on its initiative, which would have made it illegal to pursue, shoot, snare, net or capture any βwild cat,β specifically including bobcats and mountain lions.
Organizers said the effort to gather the minimum 150,642 valid signatures by Thursdayβs deadline was hampered by a new Arizona law requiring βstrict complianceβ with all election statutes. They said that made signature gathering more difficult and hiring circulators more expensive.
Other apparent nonstarters included a measure to have Arizona join with other states to have the president elected by popular vote instead of by the Electoral College; and a proposal aimed at restricting agricultural chemicals that can harm pollinators.
