Republican policies found a way around Arizona's Dem governor. Now they face lawsuits

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article misidentified the progressive group suing over the judicial retention ballot measure. The group is Progress Arizona.

Arizona Republican lawmakers in 2024 found a way around Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs' veto stamp by sending policy proposals to the ballot for final approval.

But some of those measures passed by the Legislature will face court challenges before voters weigh in.

Advocates for a planned ballot measure to raise Arizona's minimum wage launched a lawsuit on June 21, over a competing measure, saying it will short-change tipped workers.

The sponsor of the other measure, state Sen. J.D. Mesnard, said that’s not true. The Chandler Republican said his plan is a win-win for employees and employers, but his measure doesn’t state clearly how employer matching of tips would be enforced.

Also on June 21, activist group Progress Arizona filed a separate lawsuit against the state over a ballot measure that would take away voters’ ability to vote for or against county and state judges.

Both legal challenges come after the announcement of a lawsuit challenging a third ballot measure approved by lawmakers.

The main provision of House Concurrent Resolution 2060 would allow state and local police to act as border agents, arresting people who illegally cross the international border and giving them the option to self-deport. Living United for Change in Arizona announced earlier this month it would file a lawsuit challenging the measure based on the state Constitution's single-subject mandate for the Legislature's referred ballot measures.

The lawsuits could mean the measures are taken off the ballot by a court, leaving Arizonans without the choice to weigh in on the measures in November.

Lawsuit alleges wage measure would short workers

Supporters of One Fair Wage, a national group that organizes workers, hope to put a citizens' initiative on November's ballot that would boost the current minimum wage to $18 an hour by 2027 and phase out employers' ability to pay tipped workers less. They’re on a mission to get their policy on the books in other states — six states, including Nevada and Oregon, already have similar provisions.

Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, told reporters at a news conference they were suing the state “for lying to voters and lying to workers, claiming they are protecting them when they are in fact taking away their meager earnings.”

“We need a full minimum wage with tips on top, now,” she said.

The ballot referral by state lawmakers would allow employers to reduce tipped workers' pay by 25% below minimum wage, as long as their base salary plus tips equaled minimum wage plus $2 an hour extra. Current law already allows employers to reduce pay by up to $3 an hour below minimum wage if, and only if, workers make more than minimum wage in any given pay week.

It passed the Senate on Republican party lines, but picked up support from three Democrats in the state House when it was approved for November's ballot without needing a signature from Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

“It actually guarantees them a higher minimum wage than the minimum wage — $2 over,” Mesnard told The Arizona Republic. “That’s how I read it.”

However, the law doesn’t actually state that.

Jim Barton, a lawyer for the group, said lawmakers decided to “cheat” in an attempt to thwart the One Fair Wage measure. It’s a worse deal for workers than the One Fair Wage Act he supports, Barton said, adding the legislative referral is designed to be a “decoy measure” intended to confuse voters and hurt the One Fair Wage Act.

Without a guarantee to pay the extra $2 on top of minimum wage, employers won’t do it, Barton argued.

The lawsuit claims workers would generally make less than they do now under the lawmaker’s proposal, especially if they make much extra in tips. They'll make the same tips they do now, but with a bigger cut from their base salary than allowed under current law, the lawsuit contends. Workers who fall below that will get no protection they don’t already get under state law, which requires employers who pay less than minimum wage to tipped workers to ensure they make at least minimum wage during a low-tip pay period.

Calling it the Tipped Workers Protection “is misleading to the point of fraud, and creates a significant danger of electorate confusion and unfairness,” according to the lawsuit. One Fair Wage seeks to stop the measure from appearing on the 2024 ballot.

In a written statement, Steve Chucri, president and CEO for the Arizona Restaurant Association, criticized the liberal group’s out-of-state funders and its plan to phase out slashed wages for tipped employees, saying most restaurant workers prefer the current system. He focused on how the plan by Republican lawmakers gives small business owners options to “preserve jobs.”

Separate group sues over judicial retention measure

Barton's also the lawyer for Progress Arizona, which makes similar claims to One Fair Wage's in a lawsuit filed last week.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent Senate Concurrent Resolution 1044, which would end most judicial retention elections, from appearing on the ballot

The resolution's title, Judicial Accountability Act of 2024, is deceptive and would deceive voters if allowed on the ballot, the group argues.

“A more accurate title for this referral would be the ‘Lack of Accountability Act’," said Abigail Jackson, digital director for Progress Arizona, during a news conference on June 21.

Republicans who support the proposal oppose efforts by advocates of legal abortion to try and kick out state Supreme Court Justices Clint Bolick and Katherine King because they joined in a majority opinion in April to uphold Arizona's pre-statehood abortion ban. Lawmakers passed a bill to repeal the law after the court ruling.

Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X.com @raystern.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ minimum wage, judicial retention: GOP ballot measures face lawsuit