¶ David Stevens Introduced An Amendment To Charge For Public Records Requests And A Bill To Impose Stricter Rules On Ballot Petitions, Even Invalidating Petitions Collected By Certain Organizers..
In 2014, David Stevens Introduced An Amendment To His Bill HB 2419 That Would “Allow Governments To Charge A Fee For The Cost Of Staff Time Needed To Fulfill Public Records Requests Requiring More Than Four Hours Of Effort.” “A proposal that would allow governments to charge a fee for time-intensive public records requests would restrict access to information and undermine open government, a media attorney told lawmakers Thursday. [...] Proposed by Rep. David W. Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, in an amendment to HB 2419, a bill he authored on another subject, the measure would allow governments to charge for public record requests that take longer than four hours to fulfill.” [Cronkite News, 2/20/14]
- Stevens Claimed The Bill Was Motivated By An Arizona Individual Who “Made 46 Requests In 44 Days.” “Stevens said several people have mentioned to him the difficulties governments have complying with large numbers of public records requests, and Guillen said sometimes many of those requests are submitted by one or two people – for example, an individual in Yuma who made 46 requests in 44 days. ’You don’t want to make a law on two people and punish the whole state,’ Stevens said, ‘but you can’t just let that go.’” [Cronkite News, 2/20/14]
- The Amendment Was Not Voted On By The House Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure. “The committee didn’t vote on the proposal. Stevens said he’d meet with both sides next week before deciding next steps, adding that the four-hour limit he proposed ‘is not concrete.’” [Cronkite News, 2/20/14]
In 2015, David Stevens Introduced HB 2407, Which Imposed Stricter Rules On Ballot Petitions And Invalidates Petition Signatures Collected By “Out-Of-State Or Paid” Circulators. “Arizona House Bill 2407 was introduced by Rep. David Stevens (R-14) on January 29, 2015.” [Ballotpedia.org, accessed 8/24/23]
- HB 2047 “Required Stricter Compliance With Technical Signature Petition Rules And Is More Preventative Of Signature Petitions That Are Not In Strict Compliance.” “This bill required stricter compliance with technical signature petition rules and is more preventative of signature petitions that are not in strict compliance. Specifically, one of its provisions was designed to require that any individual signatures dated after the circulator affidavit was signed must be thrown out.” [Ballotpedia.org, accessed 8/24/23]
- HB 2407 Also Required “Signatures Collected By An Out-Of-State Or Paid Circulator Who Was Not Registered With The Arizona Secretary Of State At The Time The Signatures Were Signed Must Be Considered Invalid.” “HB 2407 also specified that signatures collected by an out-of-state or paid circulator who was not registered with the Arizona Secretary of State at the time the signatures were signed must be considered invalid.” [Ballotpedia.org, accessed 8/24/23]
- HB 2407 Was Signed Into Law On April 13, 2023. [Ballotpedia.org, accessed 8/24/23]