Opinion ID: 2608890
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Filing Deadline

Text: Citizens contend the trial court correctly determined that, in the absence of any controlling local provision, A.R.S. § 19-143(A) provides a ninety-day filing deadline preceding the next election. Our analysis of the applicable constitutional and statutory provisions, however, leads us to conclude that the four-month period prescribed in the state constitution controls in this case. The powers of initiative and referendum as to local matters are reserved to the qualified electors of cities, towns and counties. Ariz. Const. art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(8). These municipalities may prescribe the manner of exercising said powers within the restrictions of general laws. Id.; see also Maxwell v. Fleming, 64 Ariz. 125, 128, 166 P.2d 831, 833 (1946) (initiative power under Charter must be exercised within limitations imposed by constitution and general laws). Accordingly, we must first examine the general laws of the state to determine whether the state legislature prescribed a filing deadline for local initiative petitions. Citizens argue that A.R.S. § 19-143(A) provides a filing deadline of ninety days preceding the next election. The statute states: If an ordinance, charter or amendment to the charter of a city or town is proposed by initiative petition, it shall be filed with the city or town clerk, who shall submit it to the voters of the city or town at the next ensuing election held therein not less than ninety days after it was first presented to the city or town council. The council may enact the ordinance or amendment and refer it to the people or it may enact the ordinance or amendment without referring it to the people, and in that case it is subject to referendum petition as other ordinances. The mayor shall not have power to veto either of such measures.
We read this statute not as a deadline for filing initiative petitions, but as a measure providing in part for a mechanism by which the municipal legislative authority can enact the proposal without the necessity of an election. The statute also designates the person with whom the petitions shall be filed (the clerk) and prevents placement of the measure on the ballot at any election held less than ninety days after the clerk presents it to the council. The section further provides that the city may enact the proposed ordinance or amendment either with or without referral to the voters but precludes mayoral veto. The statute implicitly contemplates that the petition must be presented to the clerk more than ninety days prior to the election. In contrast to A.R.S. § 19-143(A) dealing with local initiatives, A.R.S. § 19-142(A), dealing with local referenda, provides a clear filing deadline by stating the petition shall be filed with the city or town clerk within thirty days after passage of the ordinance. Where the legislature uses a term within one statute and excludes it from another, the term usually will not be read into the provision from which it was excluded. See Board of Regents v. Public Safety Ret. Fund Mgr., 160 Ariz. 150, 157, 771 P.2d 880, 887 (Ct.App. 1989). Because a filing deadline was specifically included in § 19-142(A) for referendum petitions, but was not specifically included in § 19-143(A) for initiative petitions, we will not read a filing deadline into § 19-143(A). Finding no filing deadline in A.R.S. § 19-143(A) or other general statutes, we look next to the Charter of the City of Flagstaff which, in turn, refers us back to the constitution and to state laws. The Charter provides: The provisions of the Constitution and the general laws of the State, as the same now exists or hereafter may be amended, governing the initiative and referendum and recall of elected officers, shall apply to the use thereof in the City. City of Flagstaff Charter, art. 10, § 1. Because the City Charter refers to state law, we are led to A.R.S. § 19-141(C) which provides a gap-filler regarding the local initiative process: The procedure with respect to municipal legislation shall be as nearly as practicable the same as the procedure relating to initiative and referendum provided for the state at large. Regarding filing deadlines for statewide initiatives, article four of the constitution provides: All petitions submitted under the power of the Initiative shall be known as Initiative petitions, and shall be filed with the Secretary of State not less than four months preceding the date of the election at which the measures so proposed are to be voted upon. Ariz. Const. art. 4, pt. 1, § 1(4). Because no controlling local provision exists, the effect of A.R.S. § 19-141(C) is that the four-month provision of the constitution controls. Cf. 74-5-L Op. Att'y Gen. 1, 2-7 (1974) (ninety day provision of A.R.S. § 19-143(A) conflicts with four-month deadline of Ariz. Const. art. 4, pt. 1, § 1, and constitutional provisions control). Accordingly, the clerk properly rejected the petition as untimely for the March 6, 1990 election because it was not filed four months prior to that election.