Historical Apoplexy · State Adaptations · Arizona · Ballot Language
Arizona Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act, Ballot Language
Companion to the full Arizona Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act
Filed with the Arizona Secretary of State pursuant to Article IV, Part 1, Section 1 of the Arizona Constitution.
PETITION HEADING
INITIATIVE MEASURE TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS
Petition Serial Number: [Assigned by Secretary of State]
Filing Date: ________________
OFFICIAL TITLE: Arizona Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act
SIGNATURES REQUIRED: Pursuant to Article IV, Part 1, Section 1 of the Arizona Constitution, the number of signatures required for a statutory initiative equals ten percent (10%) of the total votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the last preceding general election.
Based on the November 8, 2022 gubernatorial election total of approximately two million five hundred fifty-nine thousand (2,559,490) votes cast for all candidates for Governor, the required number of valid signatures is TWO HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED FORTY-NINE (255,949) (Arizona Secretary of State, 2026 Election Cycle).
NOTE: In November 2024, Arizona voters DEFEATED Proposition 134, which would have imposed per-legislative-district signature distribution requirements on citizen initiatives. The initiative process remains intact; signatures may be collected statewide without geographic distribution mandates.
100-WORD DESCRIPTION, (for petition signature sheets)
This initiative establishes the Arizona Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act: state-operated food assurance centers selling groceries at production cost plus a five percent (5%) facility surcharge, modeled on the United States military commissary system operating at Luke AFB, Davis-Monthan AFB, Fort Huachuca, MCAS Yuma, and Yuma Proving Ground. An essential goods program distributes clothing, household supplies, tools, and heat-mitigation supplies at below-retail pricing. Mandatory tribal partnership for any center on tribal land. Total appropriation $350 million, 1.88 percent of Arizona's FY2027 General Fund. Protected by the Voter Protection Act (Proposition 105, 1998); the Legislature cannot repeal it.
BALLOT TITLE, (as it would appear on the ballot)
PROPOSITION ____
ARIZONA FOOD, RESOURCE, AND COMMODITY ASSURANCE ACT
A "yes" vote shall have the effect of establishing state-operated food assurance centers selling groceries at production cost, and an essential goods program distributing clothing, household supplies, and heat-mitigation supplies at below-retail pricing, all protected by the Voter Protection Act.
A "no" vote shall have the effect of retaining the current system in which Arizona's food distribution relies exclusively on commercial retail at the seventy-five and seven-tenths percent (75.7%) USDA Food Dollar Series marketing share, while the United States military commissary system operates at-cost food distribution for military families at five federal installations on Arizona soil that Arizona civilian taxpayers fund and cannot access.
BALLOT TEXT
The People of the State of Arizona enact as follows:
DIVISION I, ARIZONA FOOD AND COMMODITY ASSURANCE
Establishes state-operated food assurance centers where all
Arizona residents may purchase grocery products at production
cost plus a five percent (5%) facility surcharge. Modeled on the
United States military commissary system (10 U.S.C. § 2484),
which has operated at-cost food distribution for one hundred
fifty-nine (159) years and currently operates at Luke Air Force
Base, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Fort Huachuca, Marine Corps
Air Station Yuma, and Yuma Proving Ground, on Arizona soil.
Creates ten (10) pilot centers within two (2) years, including
centers in Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, and tribal
communities including the Navajo Nation and Tohono O'odham
Nation. Yuma, where ninety percent (90%) of America's winter
leafy greens are grown by workers who cannot afford to eat the
food they harvest, shall be the first center operational.
Requires Arizona-first procurement: fifty percent (50%)
Arizona-sourced products within three (3) years, seventy percent
(70%) within five (5) years.
Establishes mandatory tribal partnership provisions: no food
assurance center may be placed on tribal land without express
consent of the relevant tribal government. Tribal centers shall
integrate with existing tribal food sovereignty programs.
Creates the Arizona essential goods program for clothing,
household supplies, tools, educational materials, and heat
mitigation supplies at below-retail pricing, with food assurance
centers designated as cooling stations during declared heat
emergencies.
The USDA Food Dollar Series documents that the farm share of the
food dollar is 24.3 cents. The remaining 75.7 cents is markup.
In Arizona, this markup is visible at the border: the same food
products cost substantially less one hundred yards south in
Nogales, Sonora. This program eliminates the markup for Arizona
residents.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Appropriates THREE HUNDRED FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS ($350,000,000)
across two departments: TWO HUNDRED FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS
($250,000,000) to the Arizona Department of Agriculture for the
Food Assurance Program; ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS
($100,000,000) to the Arizona Commerce Authority for the
Essential Goods Program. Establishes phased effective dates:
food assurance pilot centers operational within two (2) years;
statewide expansion to twenty-five (25) or more centers within
five (5) years; first essential goods procurement contracts
within one (1) year; self-sufficiency target through facility
surcharges within seven (7) years. The Voter Protection Act
(Proposition 105, 1998) shields the Act from legislative repeal.
Severability clause. Repeal of conflicting provisions.
A companion Education and Public Service framework, tracked
separately as Lane 3, is being prepared as its own standalone
bill and is not part of this Act.
FISCAL IMPACT SUMMARY
ESTIMATED INITIAL APPROPRIATION: Three hundred fifty million dollars ($350,000,000), representing approximately one and eighty-eight hundredths percent (1.88%) of Arizona's FY2027 General Fund operating budget appropriations of eighteen and six-tenths billion dollars ($18,639,851,000) [SOURCE: Governor Katie Hobbs FY2027 Executive Budget Summary, January 2026, page 66, "General Fund Sources and Uses" table; Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting].
Full implementation target at three hundred nine dollars ($309) per resident per year, multiplied by Arizona's population of approximately seven million six hundred twenty-three thousand eight hundred eighteen (7,623,818) residents [SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts Arizona, Vintage 2025 release PST045225], equals approximately two billion three hundred fifty-six million dollars ($2,356,000,000), representing approximately twelve and six-tenths percent (12.6%) of the FY2027 General Fund. The Table 2 per-capita target ($309/person/yr) applies because Arizona's state-only General Fund per-capita expenditure is approximately $2,446 ($18.64B / 7.62M residents). The initial appropriation funds the pilot phase; the full program scales over five (5) to seven (7) years.
DIVISION I APPROPRIATION BREAKDOWN:
Arizona Department of Agriculture
(Food Assurance Program): $250,000,000
Arizona Commerce Authority
(Essential Goods Program): $100,000,000
TOTAL: $350,000,000
FISCAL CONTEXT:
Arizona SNAP benefits brought approximately $2,015,194,104 to
the state in FY2024 [SOURCE: FRAC SNAP State Fact Sheet,
February 2025; USAFacts FY2025]. At at-cost routing through
Division I, approximately 95 cents of every dollar reaches the
recipient as food (production cost plus 5 percent surcharge), a
3.9-fold increase in delivered food value per SNAP dollar
compared with commercial retail at the 75.7 percent marketing
share.
Federal H.R. 1 (2025) shifted SNAP administrative costs from
50 percent to 75 percent state share effective October 1 2026
[SOURCE: P.L. 119-21]. This Act's at-cost routing independently
offsets the federal cost-shift.
Arizona civilian taxpayers already fund the federal commissary
system through income taxes, providing at-cost food to military
families at five (5) federal installations on Arizona soil while
889,600 Arizona civilians receive SNAP because they cannot
afford retail food prices [SOURCE: FRAC; corp.commissaries.com
store-locations directory].
The food assurance program targets operational self-sufficiency
within seven (7) years through facility surcharges, reducing
ongoing general fund requirements to capital improvement and
expansion funding only.
Healthcare cost offsets: the Marmot/Sapolsky/Shively/Blackburn
hierarchy-gradient research predicts measurable reductions in
chronic disease and AHCCCS expenditures in served communities.
Heat mortality cost offsets: 977 confirmed heat-related deaths
in Arizona in 2024 [SOURCE: Arizona Department of Health
Services Heat-Related Mortality Year 2013-2024]. The essential
goods program's cooling-supply distribution and the food
assurance centers' cooling-station designation directly reduce
these costs.
PROPONENT STATEMENT
Arizona feeds the nation in winter and cannot feed itself.
Yuma County grows approximately ninety percent (90%) of the nation's winter leafy greens. The agricultural workers who harvest them are food insecure. Meanwhile, the United States military commissary system, funded by Arizona civilian taxes, has been selling food at cost for one hundred fifty-nine (159) years at Luke Air Force Base, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Fort Huachuca, MCAS Yuma, and Yuma Proving Ground. The proof that at-cost food distribution works is already operating at five federal installations on Arizona soil. This measure extends that model to every Arizona resident.
The Navajo Nation, approximately 27,000 square miles, approximately 180,000 residents, is served by 13 full-service grocery stores. About one in five (1 in 5) Navajo adults have Type 2 diabetes, among the highest documented rates in the United States. The food-desert conditions on the Navajo Nation are among the most extensive documented within the country, inside a state that feeds the nation. The gradient between Scottsdale and the Navajo Nation is not between states; it is within Arizona, under the same sun.
977 Arizonans died of heat in 2024. They died because survival resources, shelter, cooling, water, are distributed by the socioeconomic gradient. Heat death is hierarchy death. The essential goods program established in this Act, which includes heat-mitigation supply distribution and the cooling-station designation of food assurance centers during heat emergencies, directly addresses the material conditions that kill.
This measure is fiscally conservative. Three hundred fifty million dollars ($350,000,000), 1.88 percent of Arizona's FY2027 General Fund. The full program scales over five to seven years toward an operating target of approximately $2.356 billion per year, 12.6 percent of the General Fund, at $309 per resident per year. At-cost routing through Division I delivers 3.9 times the food value per dollar that the current commercial retail markup permits. The federal SNAP cost-shift the state did not request is offset independently by this Act.
The Voter Protection Act (Proposition 105, 1998) ensures that once Arizona voters pass this measure, the Legislature cannot repeal it. The Legislature cannot supersede it. The Legislature can only amend it with a three-fourths supermajority AND only to further its purpose. This is the highest legislative protection bar in American state politics.
The food grows here. The commissary operates here, at five federal installations. The gradient kills here. The arithmetic checks. Denial is no longer neutral.
Vote YES.
This Act is protected by Arizona's Voter Protection Act. Once you pass it, it stays passed.
SUBMISSION CLAUSE
Shall there be enacted in the Arizona Revised Statutes the Arizona Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act, establishing state-operated food assurance centers selling groceries at production cost and an essential goods program distributing clothing, household supplies, and heat-mitigation supplies at below-retail pricing, with mandatory tribal partnership provisions and a total initial appropriation of three hundred fifty million dollars ($350,000,000), protected by the Voter Protection Act (Proposition 105, 1998)?
YES / FOR THE MEASURE ____________
NO / AGAINST THE MEASURE ____________
SIGNATURE LINES
WARNING: It is a class 6 felony to sign an initiative or referendum petition with a name other than one's own or to knowingly sign one's name more than once for the same measure or to sign a petition when not a qualified elector of this state. (A.R.S. § 19-119.01)
Printed Name: ___________________________________
Signature: ______________________________________
Date: ___________________________________________
Address (including city and zip code):
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
County of Registration: _________________________
PROCESS
STEP 1: File application with Arizona Secretary of State (description
and full text).
STEP 2: Receive official serial number and title.
STEP 3: Prepare petition sheets conforming to A.R.S. § 19-121.
STEP 4: Collect 255,949+ valid signatures from registered Arizona
voters (10% of 2022 gubernatorial vote total).
STEP 5: File petitions with Secretary of State not less than four (4)
months before the target general election.
STEP 6: Secretary of State certifies signatures and places measure on
the general election ballot.
STEP 7: Simple majority of voters approves the measure.
STEP 8: THE VOTER PROTECTION ACT ACTIVATES. The Legislature cannot
repeal it. Cannot supersede it. Can only amend it with 3/4
supermajority AND only to further its purpose. It stays
passed.
END OF BALLOT LANGUAGE
Arizona Food, Resource, and Commodity Assurance Act
Citizen Initiative, Statutory Measure
Filed pursuant to Article IV, Part 1, Section 1,
Arizona Constitution
"The food grows here. The commissary operates here, at five
federal installations. The gradient kills here.
Pass it. The Voter Protection Act ensures it stays passed."