ARIZONA LEGISLATIVE ALERT June 24, 2024

Coconino County Democratic

Here is the contact information for our Legislators:

AZ SENATE:

LD 1  – Ken Bennett 602-926-5874

LD 7 – Wendy Rogers 602-926-3042

LD 6 – Theresa Hatathlie 602-926-5160

President Warren Petersen 602-926-4136

Majority Ldr Sonny Borrelli 602-926-5031

Minority Ldr Denise Epstein 602-926-4870

AZ HOUSE:

LD 1 – Selina Bliss 602-926-4018

LD 1 – Quang Nguyen 602-926-3258

LD 7 – David Cook 602-926-5162

LD 7 – David Marshall 602-926-3579

LD 6 – Mae Peshlakai 602-926-3708

LD 6 – Myron Tsosie 602-926-3157

Speaker Ben Toma 602-926-3298

Majority Ldr Leo Biasiucci 602-926-3018

Minority Ldr Lupe Contreras 602-926-5284

E-Mail Contact for Governor Katie Hobbs:

https://azgovernor.gov/contact/form/contact-governor-hobbs

E-Mail Contacts for Governor Hobbs Staff:

John Owens

Janelle Pedregon

STATUS UPDATE

    • The Legislature finally adjourned, sine die, on June 15.  Whew!!
    • A budget has been approved but it is not particularly good.  In general it does nothing to fix the runaway ESA voucher problem and doesn’t address many of Arizona’s critical issues like water, affordable housing, transportation or education.
    • Budget funding issue was a $1.3 Billion shortfall over the next two years caused by $800 million over spend on ESA vouchers and another $800 Million revenue shortfall caused by Ducey’s 2.5% flat income tax established in 2022.  Most agencies have to implement a 3 % funding cut.
    • Second session overview:
      • 160 days in session
      • 1798 bills introduced
      • 363 bills passed
      • 259 bills signed
      • 73 bills vetoed (with 143 vetoed last session – its 216 total – a record)
      • 8 new ballot referrals (added to 5 last session that’s 13 in November)
    • Ballot Measures in November:
      • PROP 133 – (HCR 2033) – If approved this measure would amend the state constitution to enshrine our current direct primary system.  This would make it extremely difficult to ever institute meaningful reforms such as ranked-choice or top-two primary voting. 
    • PROP 134 – (SCR 1015) – If approved this measure would amend the state constitution to require citizen ballot initiatives to obtain some amount of signatures of all voters in EACH of the 30 legislative districts.  The amount required would be 10% for initiatives and 15% for constitutional amendments.  Effectively would eliminate citizen initiatives in Arizona.
    • PROP 135 – (HCR 2039) – If approved this measure would amend the state constitution to require the state legislature to reconvene and re-approve any emergency declarations made by the Governor EVERY 30 days.  Currently, Arizona has 41 open disaster declarations which in many cases must be in force before we can receive any federal funding.  This change would likely put that funding at risk.
    • PROP 311 – (SCR 1006) – If approved this measure would establish a law that would create a State Supplemental Benefit Fund that would be used to pay $250,000 to the surviving spouse or children of a first responder killed in the line of duty.  The funding for this fund would come from a $20 penalty fee imposed on EVERY fine, penalty or forfeiture for any criminal offense.
    • PROP 312 – (HCR 2023) – If approved this measure would establish a law that would allow property owners to obtain a refund on property taxes if a governing authority fails to enforce nuisance laws (illegal camping, loitering, panhandling, public consumption of alcohol, etc.) .  The refund would be equal to the amount the property owner had to spend to mitigate the effect of the failure to enforce nuisance laws.
    • PROP 313 – (SCR 1021) – If approved this measure would establish a law that anyone convicted of sex trafficking of a minor child to be sentenced to life imprisonment.  Currently a person convicted of child sex trafficking faces a presumptive prison sentence of 20 years or more depending on previous convictions.  Removes the sentencing process from the courts and fixes it into law.
    • SCR 1012 – Ask voters to ban Arizona agencies from creating rules that increase costs without legislative approval.
    • SCR 1023 – Amends the constitution to require cities and school districts to hold elections on general election days ONLY.
    • SCR 1040 – Amends the constitution to create a subminimum hourly wage for tip workers.
    • SCR 1041 – Amends the constitution to allow anyone to sue a citizen initiative even before signatures have been completely gathered.
    • SCR 1044 – Amends the constitution to give judges lifetime appointments without voter retention.
    • SCR 2060 – Asks voters to resurrected SB 1070 “show me your papers” measure, would allow police to arrest suspected migrants while also running up massive taxpayer bills and greenlighting racial profiling
    • One more but I’m not sure which one for now.
    Share this:
    Posted in Action Alerts and tagged , , , , .