By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
There’s nothing legally wrong with asking voters to boost penalties for lethal fentanyl sales in the same ballot measure that seeks to let police arrest illegal border crossers, an attorney for state lawmakers is arguing to the Arizona Supreme Court.
In new court filings, attorney Beau Roysden does not dispute legal arguments by foes that provisions related to illegal immigration in Proposition 314 are not directly tied to whether someone who sells fentanyl that results in the death of another person should face a presumptive 10-year prison term.
But he told the justices that’s not the legal test to see whether it violates constitutional language that limits ballot measures to a single subject. All that’s required, he said, is that all the provisions are a part of a larger plan to accomplish a specific purpose.
