Arizona sovereignty issue to appear as referendum on 2014 ballot

The 2014 Arizona ballot will include a referendum on whether voters or lawmakers should opt to withhold resources supporting federal policies, officials said. The as-yet-untitled measure, if approved, would permit the voters or the Legislature in Phoenix to decide on a case-by-case basis whether Arizona should withhold personnel or other resources needed to carry out a federal policy on matters ranging from national forest road closures to highway construction to air-pollution, the (Phoenix) Arizona Republic reported Saturday. "This has to do with any federal action the people or the Legislature deems to be unconstitutional," state Sen. Chester Crandell, R-Heber, the proposal's primary author, said. "It's not defying the federal government. It's saying, 'We're not going to help you,'" he said. Crandell also was the main advocate of last year's Proposition 120, which proposed declaring Arizona sovereign over all land, air, water, wildlife, minerals and natural resources within its boundaries. Had it passed, it effectively would have nullified the federal government's control over the 45 percent of the state that is federal land, but voters rejected the measure 68 percent to 32 percent.