Arizona Legislative Alert – 2/20/2022

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!!)

Other Resources to Find Out More on Key Arizona Legislative Issues:

RTS Access via AZ Legislature Web Site: https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/BillOverview?SessionID=125

Coconino County Democratic Party: https://coconinodemocrats.org/category/action-alerts/

Civic Engagement Beyond Voting: https://www.cebv.us/

Save our Schools: https://sosarizona.org/

Anne Schneider’s Alerts:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/18Z2KAoOtBd3S4kORzQnfaHP6jtLHWhqI/view

AAUW – Arizona: https://www.aauwarizona.org/

ANIMAL WELFARE – Arizona Humane Society

Legislative Initiatives to Create a Safer Arizona – Arizona Humane Society (azhumane.org)

DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE – Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence

2022 Legislative Agenda (acesdv.org)

Sign up for weekly legislative alerts on Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence : Sign Up to Stay in Touch (constantcontact.com)

EDUCATION

Arizona Education Association – Legislative Alert Sign-Up: AEA Legislative Update | Arizona Education Association (arizonaea.org)

Arizona School Boards Association – Legislative – Arizona School Boards Association (azsba.org)

ENVIRONMENTAL

Sierra Club Legislative Alerts: 2022 Legislative Updates | Sierra Club

Sierra Club Legislative Tracker: Legislative Tracker | Sierra Club

HEALTH and WELFARE

Arizona Nurses Association

2022 AzNA Healthcare Bill Watch List – Arizona Nurses Association (aznurse.org)

National Association of Social Workers, Arizona Chapter

Action Alerts and Legislative Updates (socialworkers.org)

TECHNOLOGY – Arizona Technology Council

ICBD-580-AZTC-Public-Policy-2022_V12-Digital_Compressed.pdf (aztechcouncil.org) – mostly policy statements and federal legislation, but some discussion is more relevant to state legislation and appropriations.

VETERANS

Arizona Veterans Legislation Proposals 2022 – Jackson Law (jacksonlawgroupaz.com)

BILLS SPONSORED BY WENDY ROGERS, WALT BLACKMAN, or BRENDA BARTON

SB 1034 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – Would exempt disabled veterans from state property taxes – we already give away a lot of money in tax credits – let’s spend money to actually help disabled veterans.

SB 1032 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – Would appropriate money from state general fund to fund the construction of a border wall.

SB 1058 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – Would ban ballot drop boxes everywhere except in county recorder buildings and polling places!!

SB 1298 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – Would ban the government or judiciary from requiring mask or face covering anywhere except where required for workplace safety not related to COVID.

SB 1338 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – Would eliminate machine tabulation of votes forcing expensive hand counting.

SB 1343 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – Would require counties to separate early and provisional ballots by precinct before being counted – an unnecessary and time consuming step to delay vote tabulation and increase costs.

SB 1346 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – Would ban government or government contractors from going door to door to ask about an employee’s vaccination status!

SB 1465 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – Would make it necessary to revoke the certification of any voting equipment that doesn’t meet ridiculous and arbitrary standards set by Ms. Rogers – clearly meant to weaken our voting system.

HB 2624 – Walt Blackman – OPPOSE – Would penalize cities and counties if they don’t spend enough on law enforcement.

HCR 2028 – Walt Blackman – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to amend the AZ constitution to set a minimum value that cities and counties must collectively spend on law enforcement.

SB 1379 – Wendy Rogers (R-6) – OPPOSE – The old SB 1070 is back!!! This makes it a felony to provide lodging or transportation to any illegal resident – no matter how long they have been here!!

SCHOOLS SCHOOLS SCHOOLS SCHOOLS

The house has passed a waiver for the archaic school spending cap but the Senate has not!  We must get this waived by March 1 or the public schools will be unable to spend already appropriated funds to the tune of $1.2 BILLION!!!  This would have a total devasting impact on all our schools – right now!!

Call our state Senators and insist they support and past he AEL (Aggregate Expenditure Limitation) waiver ASAP!!!!

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).  

PUBLIC SAFETY

SB 1078 – Nancy Barto – (R-15) – OPPOSE – Would require cities and hospitals to keep anyone’s vaccination status a secret medical record.  An unnecessary and unreasonable constraint on public safety agencies.

SB 1003 – Vince Leach (R-11) – OPPOSE – Would require cities and counties to reduce their property tax levies if they received any funds from the American Rescue Act in 2021 – which would totally negate the whole intent of those funds.

HB 2319 – John Kavanaugh (R-23) – OPPOSE – Makes it unlawful to film police from up to 15 feet away while officers are doing their thing.  

SB 1016 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – Would stop pharmacies from refusing to fill prescriptions for off-label uses in times of emergency.  A clear attempt to allow the dangerous practice of using wacko cures for COVID promoted by far right groups and that cause considerable harm to people.

SB 1053 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – If you fail to make reasonable accommodation for someone who has a religious objection to the covid vaccine you are subject to a class 2 misdemeanor.  Already covered under Federal Law.

SB 1567 – Nancy Barto (R-15) – OPPOSE – Would ban the government from requiring the covid vaccine or from “discriminating” against anyone who refuses to be vaccinated.

HB 2086 – Joanne Osborne (R-13) – OPPOSE – Would ban schools from requiring covid immunizations for attendance.

HB 2166 – Steve Kaiser (R-15) – OPPOSE – Would exempt guns and firearm equipment from sales tax since such items are “necessities”!

TAXATION AND THE GENERAL FUND

SB 1004 – Vince Leach (R-11) – OPPOSE – Would allow an out of state retailer to use an average sales tax instead of the sales tax in effect in the city or county where the sale occurred – probably reducing funds collected.

SB 1372 – Tyler Pace (R-25) – OPPOSE – Would allow anyone who lives outside of Arizona to buy a vehicle in Arizona free of state and city sales taxes!  Huge benefit to the wealthy who can afford to fly into Arizona, buy a car and drive it home.

HB 2591 – Travis Grantham (R-12) – OPPOSE – Would use state tax dollars to construct the border wall.

ENVIRONMENTAL

SB 1151 – Victoria Steele (D-9) – SUPPORT –  Would start a 2 year pilot program to install electric vehicle chargers at the state legislature and government agency buildings.  

VOTING RIGHTS

SB 1458 – Sonny Borrelli (R-5) – OPPOSE – Would prevent a county recorder from counting early ballots until election day – creating unnecessary and significant delays.

HB 2726 – Teresa Martinez (R-11) – OPPOSE – Would require special ballot paper with at least 19 anti-fraud countermeasures – result would be to delay tabulations, and could be unworkable.

SB 1120 – Sonny Borelli (R-5) – OPPOSE – USE RTS – Would require state ballot paper to include a hologram.  Recommended by Cyber Ninjas – more support for QAnon conspiracy theories.

SB 1476 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – Would require consecutively numbered ballots that would compromise the value of a secret ballot.

SB 1478 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – Would ban the requiring of any specific kind of pen to mark a ballot.

SB 1572 – Kelly Townsend (R-16) – OPPOSE – Would require county recorders to publish a list of eligible voters on their websites before each primary and general election plus a whole host of other unnecessary waste of time actions as well as terrible invasion of privacy.

SB 2780 – John Kavanagh (R-23) – OPPOSE – Would make county recorders publish a list of eligible voters 10 days before each primary and general election and after each election to post images of all ballots!!  Incredible violation of privacy!

GOVERNANCE

HB 2001 – Regina Cobb (R-5) – OPPOSE – Would not allow cities and counties to regulate employee benefits on the ground that it is a state-wide concern.  This would run counter to the paid leave provision in Arizona’s minimum wage law and likely violate the Voter Protection Act. 

HB 2592 – Neal Carter (R-8) – SUPPORT – Would increase the stipend to Superior Court jurors that would allow everyday citizens to serve on juries easier.

SB 1631 – Sine Kerr (R-13) – OPPOSE – Would disallow retail electric competition and interfere with the Corporation Commission planning process.

SCR 1048 – J D Mesnard (R-17) – OPPOSE – Would call a constitutional convention – nominal purpose to impose term limits – but real purpose is to totally rewrite the US Constitution.

HB 2471 – Frank Carroll (R-22) – OPPOSE – Would further reduce the Governor’s ability to deal with an emergency situation.

HB 2656 – Jake Hoffman (R-12) – OPPOSE – Would ban financial institutions from “discriminating” against someone based on their political, social or environmental values.  

HB 2787 – Jake Hoffman (R-12) – OPPOSE – Would negate the Maricopa County Supervisors by splitting up the county into four smaller counties.

HCR 2031 – Regina Cobb (R-5) – OPPOSE – Another attempt to punish Flagstaff for having a higher minimum wage than the state-mandated one.

LGBTQ RIGHTS

SB 1138 – Warren Petersen (R-12) – OPPOSE – Would ban medical personnel from helping anyone under the age of 18 with their gender transition.

EDUCATION

SB 1198 – Warren Petersen (R-12) – OPPOSE – Would ban government entities from contracting with lobbyists, spending money to hire lobbyists, etc.  This is a huge change and would eliminate the activity of a number of influential organizations that could impact legislative actions.

HB 2448 – Quang Nguyen (R-1) – OPPOSE – Would require public schools to provide firearms training sometime between grades 6 and 12.

HB 2739 – Michelle Udall (R-25) – OPPOSE – Would not allow school board members to work for an association of school boards – an unnecessary effort to limit qualified applicants to school boards.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

SB 1541 – Vince Leach (R-11) – OPPOSE – Would obfuscate the determination of damages or attorney’s fees in political cases – aimed at negating the potential payment by the Republican Party for frivolous lawsuits.

FREE SPEECH

HB 2473 – STRONGLY OPPOSE – if a company or person supports a boycott the firearms industry you are prohibited from a government contract in Arizona!!!!

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