After careful deliberation, the Tucson Metro Chamber recommends City voters vote
"No"
on Proposition 205 - Tucson Families Free and Together initiative. The Chamber supports diversity and the rights of all people who live in our community. We also appreciate that discrimination and profiling is a potential danger and must be stymied. This citizen's initiative, however, is not the answer. If Prop 205 is passed, there is a significant risk that the City of Tucson could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in both state and federal funding. For example, the City could face the loss of 26% of General Fund revenues from the state—a catastrophic scenario-- if this proposition is determined to be in violation of Arizona Law. A cut of that magnitude would significantly hamper the City's ability to provide and perform basic civic functions. An additional loss of $11.2 million in federal grants would also be at risk, largely related to public safety and investigations.
Many provisions of this initiative are interpreted to be in direct conflict with existing state law and, if passed, will immediately be legally challenged creating an expensive, time consuming process which will waste already limited taxpayer resources. The magnitude of the unintended consequences of this proposition on the local economy will negatively impact those this initiative is intended to support. Therefore, Tucson Metro Chamber urges City of Tucson residents to vote
"No"
on Proposition 205 on November 5.
