PHOENIX — Petition-circulating companies are allowed to pay workers a bonus based on how good they are at gathering signatures, without violating state law, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. But they can't pay on a per-signature basis.
In a unanimous decision, the justices said there's nothing inherently unconstitutional about a 2017 state law approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature making it a crime to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. Justice Clint Bolick said there is a basis for such a restriction because paying people based on how many signatures they turn in may be susceptible to abuse.
But the high court rejected arguments by former Attorney General Mark Brnovich that the 2017 law also prohibits any form of payment that provides incentives for circulators to gather more signatures. Instead, the justices said the law is violated only when circulators are compensated based solely on how many signatures they collect.
"As we clarify here, the statute forbids on per-signature compensation, leaving other productivity-based compensation intact,'' wrote Justice Clint Bolick for the court.
Brnovich had brought criminal charges under the law against...
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