ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
fire districts;
boundary changes
Establishes timelines and requirements for boundary changes of a fire district, community park maintenance district or sanitary district.
Background
When a fire district, community park maintenance district or sanitary district changes its boundaries, current law requires the district to submit a boundary impact statement to the governing board of the district affected by the boundary change. Upon approval of the impact statement, the petitioner for the change is required to obtain the following signatures from within the boundaries of the qualified change: more than half of the property owners, the persons owning collectively more than one-half of the assessed valuation of the property and more than one half of the qualified electors. However, statute does not specify a time frame in which the petition must be returned to the governing board. Theoretically a district could use petitions signed five years ago by people who no longer live in the district. Additionally, this open time period to collect signatures causes confusion to the number of signatures required. As the number of qualified voters and property owners changes, the number of signatures required changes as well. If outdated petitions are used, the number of signatures used will not necessarily reflect the current number of voters and property owners.
H.B. 2069 has no fiscal impact to the state general fund.
Provisions
1. Requires the clerk of the board of supervisors to determine the minimum number of signatures necessary to fulfill the requirements for the petition to change a district’s boundaries within 15 days of the governing body’s approval of the boundary change impact statement, or after any appeal has been filed.
2. Stipulates that the number determined by the clerk of the board of supervisors is to remain fixed.
3. Clarifies that petitions submitted for verification must meet the requirements set by the county recorder and county assessor.
4. Stipulates that all circulated petitions must be returned to the governing body of the district within one year or they become void.
5. Specifies that this act applies to petitions that begin circulation only after this bill becomes effective.
6. Makes other technical and conforming changes.
7. Provides for a general effective date.
House Action
PIRA 1-16-01 DPA 9-0-1
CM 1-23-01 DP 10-0-0
3rd Read 1-30-01 DPA 59-0-1
Prepared by Senate Staff
March 15, 2001