Highlights
- Judge Kreamer struck Proposition 145 from the November ballot Wednesday, ruling it violated Arizona's Separate Amendment Rule.
- The measure would have protected voucher funding for military families but also voided any law or voter-approved measure conflicting with it after Nov. 1, 2026.
- Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Steve Montenegro argued both provisions constituted a single subject; Kreamer rejected that defense.
- A separate GOP ballot measure targeting the Arizona Education Association was also ruled unconstitutional this week, per Tucson.com reporting.
Maricopa County Judge Joseph Kreamer struck Proposition 145 from the November ballot Wednesday, ruling that a Republican-backed constitutional amendment ostensibly designed to protect school voucher funding for military families was unconstitutional because it also permanently barred any future reforms to Arizona's universal voucher program.
Kreamer found the measure violated the Arizona Constitution's Separate Amendment Rule, which limits proposed constitutional amendments to a single action. The underlying legislation, House Concurrent Resolution 2048, included a clause voiding any law or voter-approved measure taking effect on or after Nov. 1, 2026 that conflicted with it, a provision aimed at neutralizing Proposition 212, the Arizona Education Association-backed initiative that would place restrictions on the state's Empowerment Scholarship Account program, before voters could weigh in.
Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Steve Montenegro argued both portions of the measure should be treated as a single subject. Kreamer rejected that defense, finding that lawmakers had bootstrapped broad language barring future voucher regulations into a narrowly tailored military-family protection measure. He noted that the legislature had never before attempted to openly bar voters or future legislatures from enacting laws in the manner Prop. 145 sought.
"The Court agrees with Plaintiffs that the 'no-severance clause' contained in Subsection B is unlike any severability provision that has ever been enacted in Arizona, because instead of applying only to the bill being proposed, it would apply to invalidate future legislation," Kreamer wrote, adding that the approach would potentially force courts to strike down laws that violate no constitutional right.
Kreamer concluded the sweeping anti-reform provision had no qualitative connection to protecting military families, making it unconstitutional on separation-of-powers grounds as well. The legislature, he noted, has historically addressed educational scholarship policy in discrete, standalone legislation, and Prop. 145 clearly deviated from that practice.
The ruling is the second constitutional blow to Republican ballot strategy this week. A separate Maricopa County judge struck Proposition 143, a GOP measure that would have barred state and local governments from negotiating with any labor organization, from the November ballot on similar constitutional grounds, according to Tucson.com.
Prop. 212, the AEA-backed voucher reform initiative, remains on the November ballot. Its fate now rests with voters rather than a legislative countermeasure.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- azmirror.com retrieved 29/07/2026 16:30
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 29/07/2026 16:30. Every claim traces to a source.
