Sedona AZ (September 16, 2014) – Three statewide ballot measures will be on the November 4, 2014, Arizona ballot. Do you know what they are? Do you want to learn more about them, and the arguments for and against each one?
These ballot measures will be explored on Thursday, September 18, from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m., at Yavapai College Sedona Center (OLLI), Cultural Park Drive, west Sedona, in Room 34. Pre-registration on line is requested at www.projectcivildiscourse.org/events-main/healthy-communities.
A panel of experts comments will be streamed via the internet from Phoenix to four other Arizona communities by the University of Arizona Project Civil Discourse. The panel will provide the background information necessary to understand and discuss these propositions. Sedona participants will then send their thoughts back to the program’s headquarters.
Facilitating the Sedona discussion will be Paul Friedman, co-coordinator of Sedona’s The Arizona We Want! and Andrea Houchard, Director of NAU Philosophy in the Public Interest.
One proposition is 122: The Arizona State Sovereignty Amendment, which would allow the state to prohibit use of employees and resources to cooperate with federal actions or programs Arizonans disapprove of or deem a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Your vote would depend on whether you believe Arizona’s constitution should be changed to prevent the federal government from unconstitutionally usurping the state’s right to decide on matters such as its own natural resources and health care policies.
Another Proposition is 303: Arizona Terminal Patients’ Right to Try Act, which will allow eligible patients to use an investigatory drug, biological product, or device that has successfully completed the first phase of a clinical trial, but has not been given the FDA final green light. If voters approve, the proposition would make it illegal to block eligible patients from having access to these experimental treatments.
The third measure would raise state legislators’ annual salary, for the first time since 1998, from $24,000 to $35,000. (This proposition will not be discussed by the panel.)
For further information, contact the organizers at 480-731-8155.