PELANDER, Justice.
¶ 1 Quality Education & Jobs Supporting I-16-2012 ("the Committee") challenged the Secretary of State's descriptive title and "yes/no" language used for that initiative ("Proposition 204" or "the Act") in the Secretary's voter information guide and ballot for the November 2012 general election. The superior court rejected that challenge, finding the language was "not arbitrary or unquestionably inaccurate" and therefore substantially complied with A.R.S. § 19-125(D) (2012). On August 28, 2012, we issued an order treating the Committee's appeal from that ruling as an appellate special action, accepting jurisdiction but denying relief. This opinion explains our reasoning.
¶ 2 The Committee filed this matter as an "expedited election appeal," contending that it could be filed directly in this Court pursuant to Rule 8.1(h) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure. That rule,
¶ 3 Proposition 204's background is set forth in our opinion in Tobin v. Rea, 231 Ariz. 189, 291 P.3d 983 (2013), also filed today. In short, the Committee and its supporters collected approximately 290,000 signatures to place the initiative on the 2012 general election ballot as Proposition 204. The Secretary prepared a descriptive title and summary of the measure's principal provisions pursuant to § 19-125(D), which states, in relevant part:
A.R.S. § 19-125(D).
¶ 4 After consulting with the Attorney General and receiving input from the initiative's proponents, the Secretary settled on the following language for the general election guide (or "publicity pamphlet") and ballot:
¶ 5 The Committee argues that the Secretary's description violates § 19-125(D) by "falsely characterizing the Act as a tax increase" and "exaggerating the limitation on the Legislature contained in the Act." The Committee's preferred language would have stated that the Act "replac[es] the temporary
¶ 6 Of the cases the Committee cites, only Howe involved a challenge to the Secretary of State's descriptive title and "yes/no" language used in the publicity pamphlet and ballot regarding a referendum proposal. There, the superior court concluded that the Secretary "failed to comply with A.R.S. § 19-125" in those respects. Howe, 192 Ariz. at 382 ¶ 8, 965 P.2d at 774. In overturning that ruling, this Court found that the Secretary substantially complied with the statutory requirements by using language that "can reasonably be regarded as an attempt to provide necessary and appropriate information to the voting public." Id. at 384 ¶ 22, 965 P.2d at 776. "Giving due deference" to the Secretary, we could not say that the chosen language was, "as a matter of law, so overemphasized as to be misleading, inaccurate, lacking in neutrality, or argumentative." Id. ¶ 19.
¶ 7 We reach the same conclusions here regarding the Secretary's descriptive title and "yes/no" language used for Proposition 204. We agree with the Committee that the Secretary may not use language that is false or clearly misleading. But we disagree with the Committee's assertion that the Secretary's description of the Act "as a tax increase is unquestionably inaccurate." As noted in Tobin, "[t]hough `fairly debatable,'... the initiative's proposed tax may fairly be described as a `new' or additional `tax increase,'" and such a description "is neither inaccurate nor partial." ___ Ariz. at ___ ¶ 17, 291 P.3d at 988-89 ("[T]he initiative proposes statutory changes that would impose a new, permanent, and legislatively unalterable tax, the revenues of which would be directed to different and broader uses than those under the current, constitutionally-imposed temporary tax.").
¶ 8 In Tobin, we required modification of the Legislative Council's analysis not because it characterized the Act as imposing a new tax increase, but only because it did not satisfy § 19-124(B)'s impartiality requirement, as explicated in this Court's case law. Absent any explanatory context, the Council's analysis was "not completely `free from any misleading tendency.'" Id. ¶ 18 (quoting Fairness & Accountability in Ins. Reform v. Greene, 180 Ariz. 582, 590, 886 P.2d 1338, 1346 (1994)). Accordingly, the analysis could not be viewed as "a completely neutral summary, without advocacy or argument." Id. at ___ ¶ 19, 291 P.3d at 989 (quoting Citizens for Growth Mgmt. v. Groscost, 199 Ariz. 71, 73 ¶ 11, 13 P.3d 1188, 1190 (2000)). Nor did it lack any hint of "partisan coloring." Id. at ___ ¶ 13, 291 P.3d at 990 (quoting Greene, 180 Ariz. at 590, 886 P.2d at 1346).
¶ 9 The statute at issue here, § 19-125(D), does not expressly require an "impartial analysis" of the proposed measure, as does § 19-124(B). And although the Legislative Council's analysis "shall be written in clear and concise terms," it is not subject to any word or page limit. A.R.S. § 19-124(B). In contrast, the Secretary is obligated to summarize, in no more than fifty words, "the principal provisions of the measure," followed by a "brief phrase ... stating the essential change in the existing law" should the measure be approved. Id. § 19-125(D). The measure here, Proposition 204, spanned fourteen single-spaced pages and contained detailed and relatively complicated language regarding state sales tax and related provisions. The length and complexity of the initiative, and the constraints prescribed in § 19-125(D), are factors in assessing compliance with that statute.
¶ 10 The Committee aptly notes that, compared to the Council's analysis, the Secretary's ballot language arguably is more important because it might be the last or only description the electorate sees before voting on the measure. But given the different
¶ 11 We likewise do not find false or clearly misleading the Secretary's statement that the Act "forbids reductions to the current state sales tax base."
¶ 12 As with the Secretary's "tax increase" language to which the Committee objects, the meaning of his "sales tax base" language is fairly debatable and potentially subject to differing interpretations. But that does not mean the language fails to comply with § 19-125(D). The Secretary's summary begins by stating that the Act "permanently increases the state sales tax by one cent per dollar." In context, the language that follows, regarding the "current state sales tax base" to which the Act forbids reductions, could be read as referring to the aforementioned "one cent per dollar" portion of the sales tax base.
¶ 13 We have no more appetite for enmeshing ourselves in quarrels regarding the Secretary's compliance with § 19-125(D) than in disputes over the Council's compliance with § 19-124(B). As the superior court correctly observed regarding the areas of contention here, however, the parties each raised "legitimate points," and neither side's position "is irrational or frivolous." The court did not abuse its discretion or otherwise err in finding that the Secretary's language substantially complies with § 19-125(D). See Ariz. R.P. Spec. Act. 3(c). Accordingly, we accept special action jurisdiction but deny relief.
CONCURRING: SCOTT BALES, Vice Chief and ROBERT M. BRUTINEL, Justice.