State high court rejects pension initiative appeal

The Arizona Supreme Court declined to make an expedited ruling on the Committee for Sustainable Retirement Benefits appeal to overturn an appellate court decision that booted the initiative from the November ballot.

The Supreme Court said it would review the appellate court decision at a later date, but the deadline to make this year’s ballot was Monday at 5 p.m.

Last week the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiffs who originally sued to disqualify 10,000 petition signatures because either felons or unregistered out-of-state circulators collected many of them.

Despite the setback, committee Chairman Art Flagg vowed to keep on fighting until the city’s pension woes are fixed.

“Pension reform is of critical importance to Tucsonans, and we will continue this effort,” Flagg said in an email.