By Rachel Leingang | Arizona Capitol Times
The state’s largest utility wasted no time in spending money to discredit a ballot measure that seeks to increase renewable energy goals.
The Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona campaign, backed by California Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer, filed its ballot measure with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on February 20.
The measure seeks to amend the Arizona Constitution to put in place a requirement for 50 percent of energy that large utilities use to come from renewable sources by 2030.
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In order to get on the 2018 ballot, the campaign needs to collect 225,963 valid signatures of registered voters.
The measure defines an “affected utility” that must comply with its 50-percent renewable mandate to be a public service corporation, which would affect utility companies like Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power.