Arizona voters will decide 10 GOP-backed ballot measures in November on schools, elections, taxes

When Arizona voters go to the polls in November to decide who will be the next governor and hold the other statewide offices, they’ll also get to weigh in directly on some of the policy priorities of the Republicans who currently run the state legislature.

In all, legislators sent 10 measures to this year’s ballot, where voters will get the final say. Half of those proposals seek to amend the Arizona Constitution, which requires voter approval. The other half make changes to state law, but were sent to the ballot to avoid a veto from Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who has shattered the state’s record for vetoes during her four years in office.

Voters may also get to weigh in on competing ballot measures that would regulate Arizona’s universal private school voucher program and guarantee a right to vote by mail. Those citizens’ initiatives have until next month to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Here are brief summaries of the 10 measures that the Arizona Legislature sent to the ballot; each will be given its own proposition number later this summer.

Education and schools

HCR 2048 (2026) — Military families’ ESA scholarship protection
Amends the Arizona Constitution to bar the state from “confiscating” Empowerment Scholarship Account money belonging to children of military families. But it does far more than what Republican backers said: Buried in the proposal is a clause voiding any law or voter-approved measure taking effect on or after Nov. 1, 2026 that conflicts with it — a poison pill aimed at the initiative to rein in private school vouchers that is being pushed by the Arizona Education Association and to block any future reforms to the system. 

HCR 2040 (2026) — School districts and labor unions
Amends the Arizona Constitution to ban school districts from using public money or resources to support a labor union, and it prohibits school district employees from recruiting for the union using school email or on school grounds. It also would bar school districts from deducting voluntary union dues from employees’ paychecks. And labor advocates say a provision tucked into the amendment could ban all public sector union negotiations across Arizona, not just in school districts. The proposal was developed by Republicans to punish the Arizona Education Association for launching an initiative campaign to reform the state’s universal school voucher program.

SCR 1032 (2026) — 60% direct-instructional-spending mandate
Amends state law to require large school districts (those with at least 7,500-plus students) and all districts in Maricopa and Pima counties to spend at least 60% of operational dollars on direct classroom instruction, phased in over several years, with escalating cuts to a district’s Classroom Site Fund if it doesn’t comply. The Auditor General reported that, on average, 52.1 cents of every dollar currently ends up classified as instruction, the lowest in two decades of that report.

Elections and voting

HCR 2001 (2026)— “Fast Election Results Act”
Amends the Arizona Constitution to include a series of election reforms: only citizens may vote; foreign nationals may not contribute anything of value to influence an Arizona election; and every voter must show government-issued ID before casting a ballot “whether voting in person or by any other method.” The provisions limiting voting to citizens and requiring voter ID at polling places are already in state law; it is unclear how voters would show their ID if they vote by mail, as more than 70% of voters do.

DEI and gender

HCR 2044 (2026) — Anti-DEI amendment
Amends the Arizona Constitution to add prohibitions targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. It would bar public institutions from compelling endorsement of race-based preferences or DEI/intersectionality tenets, and from spending public money on offices that promote race-based preferential treatment. It includes carve-outs for coursework, research, student groups and instruction about events like slavery and the Holocaust.

HCR 2003 (2026) — Anti-trans “Protect Girls’ Sports Act” 
Amends state law to expand the existing statute banning transgender students from playing on the gender-appropriate K-12 or college sports team to require that teams be designated by biological sex (per original birth certificate) beginning in 2027. Additionally, the law would be expanded to bar schools from letting transgender students use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, something Republican lawmakers have failed to add to state law for more than a decade. The provisions would now also apply to “athletic associations,” not just Arizona schools.

Public safety and law enforcement

HCR 2055 (2025)— Drug cartels as terrorist organizations
Amends state law to declare drug cartels terrorist organizations and direct the Arizona Department of Homeland Security to act against them. The text includes a clause stating nothing in it supports an alien’s asylum claim, and ties its findings to Proposition 314, which voters approved last year, and the “actually invaded” constitutional language.

SCR 1004 (2026) — Photo-enforcement voter approval
Amends state law to require local governments and agencies to win voter approval to keep operating speed- and red-light cameras, unless under contract by Dec. 31, 2026. If voters approve the cameras, that authorization lasts for 10 years, after which voters must once again vote on their use. 

Taxes and government finance

HCR 2021 (2025) — Cap on local grocery taxes
Amends state law to cap municipal sales taxes on food for home consumption at 2% and requires voter approval for new or increased taxes; cities and towns already above 2% are frozen at their current rate rather than rolled back.

SCR 1004 (2025) — Ban on vehicle-miles-traveled taxes
Amends the Arizona Constitution to bar all levels of government from imposing a tax or fee based on vehicle miles traveled, or monitoring those miles. The proposal seeks to preemptively eliminate possible replacements to the gas tax that currently pays for road construction and maintenance, but which is underfunded both because the tax has not increased in decades and the proliferation of electric vehicles and fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles.