Abstract
In November 1998, Arizona voters approved Proposition 200—the Citizens Clean Elections Act ("Act"). The Act created the Citizens Clean Election Commission to oversee disbursement of public funds for the campaigns of qualifying candidates for certain elected offices. According to the Act, the Commission was to obtain financing from four sources: (1) voluntary contributions, (2) funds through a voluntary "check off" on state tax returns, (3) an assessment on certain lobbyists, and (4) a ten percent surcharge on criminal and civil fines In 2001, an Arizona legislator was assessed a clean-elections surcharge on a parking ticket and challenged the Act as a violation of his freedom of speech rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Arizona Supreme Court ultimately accepted the case to decide whether the Clean Elections Act "impermissibly compels political speech of the surcharge payers, in violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech." Because the court found the surcharge to be viewpoint-neutral, the court held that the surcharge provision of the Act was constitutional.
How to Cite
46 Ariz. L. Rev. 185 (2004)
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