Arizona HB 2792: incorporation; urbanized areas.

Bill Text

HB2792 - 542R - H Ver 

 House Engrossed

 State of 
 Arizona

 House of 
 Representatives

 Fifty-fourth 
 Legislature

 Second Regular 
 Session

 2020

 HOUSE BILL 2792

AN ACT

amending 
sections 9-101 and 9-101.01, arizona revised statutes; relating to cities and towns.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 9-101, Arizona Revised 
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE9-101. Incorporation; definition

A. When If 
two‑thirds of the qualified electors residing in a community containing a 
population of fifteen hundred or more inhabitants or in a community within ten miles 
of the boundary of a national park or monument that contains a population of 
five hundred or more persons petition the board of supervisors, setting forth 
the metes and bounds of the community, and the name under which the petitioners 
desire to be incorporated, and praying for the incorporation of the community 
into a city or town, and the board is satisfied that two‑thirds of the 
qualified electors residing in the community have signed the petition, it shall declare, by an order entered of record, declare 
the community incorporated as a city or town.

B. When If 
ten per cent percent of the 
qualified electors residing in a community containing a population of fifteen 
hundred or more persons or in a community within ten miles of the boundary of a 
national park or monument that contains a population of five hundred or more 
persons petition the board of supervisors in the manner prescribed in 
subsection A of this section, praying for the calling of an election for the purpose provided in this section, with 
the express intent to incorporate the community as a city or town, the 
board, shall within sixty days after 
filing the petition the map and petition, 
complete with signatures, are filed with the board, shall call the 
election. The map and petition shall be filed 
simultaneously or within twenty-four hours of each other.� , and The election shall take place on a date prescribed by 
section 16‑204 but not more than one hundred eighty days after the 
petition is filed, has been filed with the 
board, complete with signatures, except that no such 
an election shall not be called 
within twelve months from after the 
date of a previous election for incorporation of substantially the same 
territory.� Only qualified electors of the community shall vote on this 
question.� If a majority of qualified electors voting thereon votes for 
incorporation, then the board of supervisors shall, by an 
order entered of record, shall declare the community 
incorporated as a city or town.

C. Prior to before 
obtaining any signatures on a petition required by subsection A or B of 
this section, the petitioners shall do the following:

1. Publish a copy of the petition, 
setting forth the metes and bounds of the community to be incorporated, in a 
newspaper of general circulation in the area to be affected for two consecutive 
weeks.� Members of the public may request modifications to the metes and bounds 
of the community by presenting alternatives to the petitioners.

2. Not less than sixty days after 
publishing the notice pursuant to paragraph 1 of this subsection, submit a 
copy of such the petition shall be filed with to the county recorder 
or, in a county having an elections department, with the 
county elections department. The petition shall state its purpose 
clearly and concisely and shall be in the form and signed and verified as 
generally provided for initiative petitions.� Petitioners shall 
have one hundred eighty days from the date of such filing to obtain the 
required number of signatures. the petition shall set 
forth the metes and bounds of the community and shall state that petition 
signers desire for the community to become incorporated as a city or town.� The 
petitioners shall also submit a copy of the notice published pursuant to 
paragraph 1 of this subsection.

D. Not later than the next regularly 
scheduled board meeting following the submission of the proper and legal 
petition to the county recorder or county elections department but within 
thirty days after submission of the petition, the board shall authorize the 
CIRCULATION of the petition.� petitioners have one hundred EIGHTY days after 
the date of the meeting at which the circulation of the petition is approved to 
obtain the required number of signatures.

D. E. By 
whichever proceeding the incorporation of a city or town is accomplished, the 
order shall designate the name of the city or town, and its metes and bounds, 
and thereafter the inhabitants within the area so defined shall be a body 
politic and corporate by the name designated.

F. An area to be incorporated shall not include 
large areas of uninhabited, rural or farm lands, but it shall be urban in 
nature.

G. Territory shall not be incorporated if, as a 
result of such incorporation, unincorporated terr