Here is the contact information for our Legislators:
AZ SENATE:
LD 6 – Wendy Rogers 602-926-3042
LD 7 – Theresa Hatathlie 602-926-5160
President Karen Fann 602-926-5874
Majority Ldr Rick Gray 602-926-5413
AZ HOUSE:
LD 6 – Walt Blackman 602-926-3043
LD 6 – Brenda Barton 602-926-3421
LD 7 – Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren 602-926-3069
LD 7 – Myron Tsosie 602-926-3157
Speaker Russell Bowers 602-926-3128
Majority Ldr Ben Toma 602-926-3298
CONTACT THE GOVERNOR AS BILLS MOVE TO HIM TO SIGN
IT IS BEST TO CALL HIS OFFICE TO VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION – 602-542-4331.
IF YOU TWEET – SEND YOUR OPPOSITION VIA TWITTER – @DOUGDUCEY
(He hates to get Tweets it seems!!)
BILLS SPONSORED BY WENDY ROGERS, WALT BLACKMAN, or BRENDA BARTON
SB 1028 – Wendy Rogers – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would require state ballot paper to include at least three “anti-fraud countermeasures” such as watermarks, holographic foil, thermochromatic ink, ultraviolet numbering, etc. – it is unclear whether such paper even exists. Motivated, it seems, by QAnon conspiracy theories. Such a requirement would greatly increase costs, probably not protect against inconsequential fraud and would delay ballot preparations.
SB 1133 – Wendy Rogers – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would ban all mail-in elections for cities and school districts beginning in 2023. Voters in Arizona have been doing such elections for three decades! Just part of a continuing wave of efforts to restrict and undermine Arizonans’ freedom to vote!!
SB 1041 – Wendy Rogers – OPPOSE – USE RTS – TUESDAY 1-25 – Would appropriate $3.6 million to the existing hyperbaric oxygen therapy fund for military veterans. Sounds good BUT its just another way to use public money to fund fraudulent COVID treatments.
SB 1044 – Wendy Rogers – OPPOSE – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY 1-26 – Would force the state to contract for the federally mandated personal responsibility education program and sexual risk avoidance education grant program ONLY with companies who do not provide abortions. Direct slap at Planned Parenthood, a leading provider of these programs.
SB 1125 – Wendy Rogers – OPPOSE – USE RTS – THURSDAY 1/27 – Would ban registration and buyback laws, ban taxes on firearms and gun equipment, and preemptively ban any bans of assault rifles, ammunition and bump stocks. This has frightening implications and would create giant loopholes for firearm safety.
HB 2033 – Walt Blackman – SUPPORT – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY – 1-26 – Would ban juvenile courts from billing kids or their parents for detention, foster care, treatment and education program, or health care while in detention.
SB 1123 – Wendy Rogers – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would force Arizona community colleges and universities to allow permit holders to carry concealed guns on campuses!!
HB 2060 – Walt Blackman – SUPPORT – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would REMOVE drug testing as a condition for food stamps, unless required by the terms of the recipient’s probation!
PUBLIC SAFETY
HB 2119 – Steve Kaiser (R-15) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY – 1-25 – Would ease the automatic restoration of firearm possession rights after people get out of prison. We should not be putting guns back in the hands of people who have committed serious crimes without any kind of review.
HB 2081 – John Kavanagh (R-23) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY – 1-24 – Would make it unlawful for someone to film police from up to 15 feet away while officers are engaged in “law enforcement activity.” This is a clear violation of the First Amendment!
HB 2043 – Quang Nguyen (R-1) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY – 1-26 – Would force any employer who denies an employee a religious covid-19 vaccine exemption to be liable to $500,000 or more in damages and legal fees ‘that result from a significant injury caused by receiving the covid-19 vaccination”. Uses religious liberty to become the first refuge of scoundrels crying “religion”!!!
HB 2316 – John Kavanagh (R-23) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY – 1-26 – Would allow people with concealed weapon permits to bring guns into libraries, community centers, public pools, state museums, the DMV, government offices, block parties, marches and street fairs – even if asked to turn over their firearms for storage!
VOTING RIGHTS
SB 1010 – Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-23) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – TUESDAY 1-25 – Would make school board elections partisan. Would also force schools to allow protesters at board meetings and other events after school hours. This is a wedge issue designed to attempt to splinter support for public schools.
SB 1008 – Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-23) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would require automatic ballot recounts when election results are within 0.05% – current requirement is when the count is within 0.1% or 200 votes, whichever is less. If we had this requirement in 2020 we would have had to recount all 3.3 million votes cast!!
SB 1012 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would force the Secretary of State to hand over the statewide voter registration database to a third party chosen by the Legislature, for the purpose of investigating whether voter registration practices comply with federal laws on federal-only voting. Maybe Cyber Ninja’s!!??
SB 1119 – Sonny Borelli (R-5) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would require copies of digital ballot images to be publicly available online in an unalterable format that’s searchable by precinct. Recommended by Cyber Ninja’s – clearly not a practical effort nor is it conducive to privacy concerns.
SB 1120 – Sonny Borelli (R-5) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would require state ballot paper to include a hologram. Recommended by Cyber Ninjas – more support for QAnon conspiracy theories.
SCR 1005 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would ask voters to amend the Arizona Constitution to ban “federal-only voters” from receiving a ballot – in all likelihood violating federal law!
HB 2237 – Jake Hoffman (R-12) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY – 1-26– Would outlaw same-day voter registration!!! This is the OPPOSITE of what Arizona should be doing!!
HB 2238 – Jake Hoffman (R-12) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY – 1-26 – Would ban ballot drop boxes!! These boxes are accessible, convenient, reliable and secure – hugely popular option for voters!!
GOVERNANCE
SB 1009 – Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-23) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would limit the Governor’s ability to declare a state of emergency to 120 days. After that both chambers of the legislature would need to reauthorize it. Clearly aimed at preventing appropriate responses to key emergencies, such as COVID.
HB 2099 – Regina Cobb (R-5) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – TUESDAY – 1-25 – Would restrict the League of Cities and Towns from charging small towns more for their memberships than large cities, as measured on a per capital population. Small towns get more services from the league so added charges are warranted. This is part of an attack on membership organizations which often have the power to derail harmful legislation.
ENVIRONMENTAL
SB 1150 – Victoria Steele (D-9) – SUPPORT – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would start a 2 year pilot program to ensure that new homes have the wiring necessary to install an electric vehicle charger!
SB 1151 – Victoria Steele (D-9) – SUPPORT – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would start a 2 year pilot program to install electric vehicle chargers at the state legislature and government agency buildings.
SB 1152 – Victoria Steele (D-9) – SUPPORT – USE RTS – MONDAY 1-24 – Would require state agencies to develop a Zero Emissions Vehicle Plan to increase the number of EVs in Arizona and to establish EV corridors with charging infrastructure.
SB 1154 – Victoria Steele (D-9) – SUPPORT – USE RTS MONDAY 1-24 – Would establish a Transportation Electrification Study Commission to review Arizona law, increase public acceptance and awareness of EVs and their benefits, and collaborate with other groups on easing the coming transition from carbon-fueled vehicles to EVs.
SAFETY NET IMPROVEMENTS
SB 1018 – Sean Bowie (D-18) – SUPPORT – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY – 1-26 – Would allow one person per household to take a state tax credit of 5% of their earned income tax credit retroactive to TY 2021. Creates a tax credit for low income Arizona families.
RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM TO ORGANIZE
SB 1166 – Vince Leach (R-11) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – WEDNESDAY – 1-26 – Would ban spending any state dollars on “union activities,” defined to include candidate work or lobbying for bills or ballot measures. Seems to have been written by the dark-money libertarian Goldwater Institute.
EDUCATION
CRITICAL !!! USE RTS OR BILL PREFERENCE TO SUPPORT THESE BILLS!!
The Arizona Legislature needs to override the constitutional aggregate expenditure limit by March 1, 2022, or school districts across Arizona will need to cut a total of nearly $1.2 billion (16%) from their budgets this year. These cuts would be devastating for our students and would impact extracurriculars, specialized programs like Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate, and staffing shortages and pay.
AEA members and educators – Senator Christine Marsh and Representative Jennifer Pawlik – have introduced legislation to authorize the override for this year (SCR1022 / HCR2012) and repeal the limit (SCR1023).
SB 1049 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – THURSDAY – 1-27 – Would make violations of the “parent’s bill of rights” a class 2 misdemeanor and gives any parent to right to sue district or charter schools, to be represented by the state, for an up to $5,000 civil fine per violation. “Parent Rights” and “Transparency” are the newest wedge issue designed by an elite estremist think tank to divide teachers and parents and drive private profits. Teachers have the right to do their jobs without harassment.
HB 2161 – Steve Kaiser (R-15) – OPPOSE – USE RTS TUESDAY – 1-25 – Would require publicly funded schools to give parents access to all their records, including shot records and psychological files. Schools would be banned from withholding information from parents about students’ emotional health or gender identity, or helping the student withhold such information. This bill makes no allowance for restraining orders or legal lack of custody.
HB 2177 – Michelle Udal (R-25) – SUPPORT – USE RTS TUESDAY 1-25 – A modest set of common-sense safety revisons for charter schools. It increases the categories of employees who need a fingerprint clearance card, tightens the timeline for revoking a charter. Arizona charter schools have seen the most lax oversight in the nation!! This is a small step toward accountability.
HB 2284 – John Fillmore (R-16) – OPPOSE – USE RTS TUESDAY – 1-25 – Would require teachers to hold back a student who does not meet course or competency requirements. This presumes that parents and teachers cannot be trusted to determine what is best on a case-by-case basis. There is no appropriations attached to this bill. Arizona will not fund an additional year for retained students!
HB 2495 – Jake Hoffman (R-12) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – TUESDAY – 1-25 – Would ban public schools from referring to or using any sexually explicit text, audio or video. The definitions sued are ridiculously broad and vague. Schools would be unable to teach everything from Shakespeare and John Steinbeck to the Tudor monarch and 1960’s history!!
SB 1011 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY – 1-24 – Would ban school districts from using tax dollars to pay for membership in a state or national school board association. These associations provide valuable training, leadership and other services to nearly all school boards (240 in Arizona alone). Another effort being pushed by the Goldwater Institute to further weaken support for public schools.
SB 1068 – Vince Leach (R-11) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY – 1-24 – Would skew Arizona teacher compensation scale so that teachers would be paid more at charter schools than at public district schools. This is part of a continuing dumbing down of education in Arizona and ultimately harms kids by rewarding schools for hiring untrained personnel.
HB 2112 – Michelle Udall (R-25) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY – 1-24 – Would ban racist or “controversial” topics in schools, and penalizes school districts with fines. This is an unnecessary wedge between teachers and parents that would threaten engagement with students, deprive kids of crucial knowledge about their identities, and force teachers out of the profession as restrictive practices mount!
SB 1159 – Rick Gray – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY – 1-24 – Would consolidate Arizona’s teaching certificates so that anyone who goes through any teacher prep program or subject matter expert certification receives a Standard Teaching Certificate. This plays into the misconception that “anyone” can teach.
HB 2439 – Beverly Pingerelli (R-21) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – TUESDAY – 1-25 – Would require school boards to approve every single library book a school purchases. A list would have to be made public for 60 days. Further attempts to force division at local school boards!
LGBTQ RIGHTSSB 1165 – Nancy Barto (R-15) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – MONDAY – 1-24 – A reprise of the 2020 and 2021 bills to bar transgender girls from women’s sports at public and private schools, community colleges and state universities. Discriminatory bills like this are not just morally wrong they are bad for business – a ban would stop Arizona from hosting NCAA events!!
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