Goldwater Institute

The Arizona Constitution declares that "governments . . . are established to protect and maintain individual rights." As the lawmaking branch of government, the legislature has the potential to be the greatest guardian or the greatest offender of those constitutionally enshrined rights.

The U.S. and Arizona constitutions require government to compensate property owners whenever it seizes their land. However, government often passes laws and regulations that depress property values or completely prevent the use of private property, essentially taking the property without explicitly taking title to it. In these instances, loopholes in judicial interpretation of the constitution often allow government to escape having to compensate property owners. These "regulatory takings" became so severe in Oregon that, in 2004, voters overwhelmingly approved a law called Measure 37, which required the government to pay people whenever it conscripted their land for public purposes, even if it did not seize the title outright. This law followed an earlier attempt, called Measure 7, which, despite overwhelming popular approval, was deemed unconstitutional in 2002 by the Oregon Supreme Court. But in February 2006, the court upheld Measure 37, leading many defenders of private property rights to hope that similar reform might be possible to protect home and business owners in other states.

In January 2005, the Goldwater Institute and the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation jointly produced A Guide to Understanding State Funding of Arizona Public School Students to bring simplicity, transparency, and accuracy to Arizona public school finance by detailing the underlying funding formulas and mechanisms. Like the 2005 study, this analysis examines updated financial data from the Arizona Department of Educations multiple accounting systems: the Uniform System of Financial Reporting (USFR), the Student Accountability Information System (SAIS), and the Superintendents Annual Financial Report (SAFR). This policy brief also describes the changes that have occurred in Arizona funding between the 2002-03 and 2003-04 fiscal years.

When Arizona's Clean Elections Act was passed in 1998, proponents hoped it would mark the beginning of a new era in elections: one of improved voter turnout, increased candidate participation, and less special interest influence. But just how has the Clean Elections Act changed Arizona campaigns? This policy report finds Arizona's Clean Elections system has largely failed to live up to its stated goals.

Enrollment at Arizona's three main state universities is projected to increase from 115,000 to 185,000 students by 2020. Under the existing higher education finance system, state and local appropriations to Arizona public universities and community colleges amounted to $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2003 just for operating expenses, which exclude capital and construction funding. Arizona's projected enrollment growth could almost double those appropriations in real terms to an estimated $2.4 billion in 2018. Adding to the strain of Arizona's student enrollment growth is the state constitution's mandate that public postsecondary education in Arizona be as nearly free as possible.