Arizona Legislative Alert – March 21, 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 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!

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!  

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

HB 2328 – Kevin Payne (R-21) – OPPOSE  (Not available for RTS – call reps direct or House/Senate leaders) Would remove financial liability to companies who contract with the state for prison labor making them unaccountable for injuries or death!!

SB 1581 – Vince Leach (R-11) – OPPOSE – Would criminalize and ban homelessness outside of “special camping sites” – probably unconstitutional.

HB 2309 – Jennifer Jermaine (D-18) – SUPPORT – Would lead to notifying a minor in custody of their rights and notifying the minor’s parents of the minor’s rights.

VOTING RIGHTS

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!!

HB 2289 – STRIKER – STRONGLY OPPOSE!!!! – Would limit election voting to election day ONLY – would practically eliminate early in-person voting AND most mail-in voting!!!  CALL HOUSE LEADER BOWERS

HB 2602 – Shawnna Bolick (R-20) – OPPOSE – Would prevent county recorders from setting up emergency voting centers.

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!

SB 1008 – Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-23) – OPPOSE – USE RTS  – 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!!

HB 2236 – Jake Hoffman (R-12) – OPPOSE – Ban’s Arizona’s government or employees from registering anyone to vote unless they expressly ask to be registered.

EDUCATION

SB 1211 – Nancy Barto (R-15) – OPPOSE – Would require teachers to post a list of EVERY SINGLE item teachers use or discuss with students!! 

HB 2008 – Quang Nguyen (R-1) – OPPOSE – Would require students to study communism in a way to instill fear of the ideology – would require the state to work with Koch funded schools at the state universities to develop standards.

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 -STRIKER – Would revive HB 2808 – Michelle Udall (R-25) – OPPOSE – Would punish poorly performing schools by shutting them down – without real tools to help those schools succeed.

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

HCR 2001 – Steve Kaiser (R-15) – OPPOSE – Would amend the state constitution to include the bill to halt the teaching of critical race theory or other racial discrimination information in our public schools.

SB 1657 – Paul Boyer (R-20) – STRONGLY OPPOSE – Would be the largest ESA voucher expansion in AZ history!  Expands the option to 16 new categories and draws the money for the program from the Classroom Site Fund for public schools.

SB 1707 – Paul Boyer (R-20) – OPPOSE – Would permanently expand ESA vouchers to anyone who received on of Gov Ducey’s federal voucher grants – a temporary end-run to use federal money to promote charter schools to avoid mask mandates.

HB 2161 – Steve Kaiser (R-15) – OPPOSE – 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 2495 – Jake Hoffman (R-12) – OPPOSE – USE RTS  – Would ban public schools from referring to or using any sexually explicit text, audio or video.  Schools would be unable to teach everything from Shakespeare and John Steinbeck to the Tudor monarch and 1960’s history!!

HB 2616 – Joseph Chaplik (R-23) – OPPOSE – Would require a specific “opt in” consent for each student to require a mask usage at public and charter schools.

FOSTER CARE

HB 2274 – Jeff Weninger (R-17) – SUPPORT – Would increase monthly kinship foster care stipend from $75 to $300 – would significantly increase help for those who are raising a relative’s child due to abuse or neglect.

PUBLIC SAFETY

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

HB 2119 – Steve Kaiser (R-15) – OPPOSE   – 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 2319 – John Kavanaugh (R-23) – OPPOSE – Makes it unlawful to film police from up to 15 feet away while officers are doing their thing.  

HB 2498 – Jake Hoffman (R-12) – OPPOSE – Would ban state and local governments from requiring anyone to be vaccinated for COVID.

HB 2507 – Ben Toma (R-22) – OPPOSE – Would ban governments from restricting religious organizations from meeting in-person – even during periods of emergency like COVID.

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!!!!

ENVIRONMENTAL

HB 2619 – Sarah Liguori (D-28) – SUPPORT – Would set up small rainwater harvesting program for AZ homes.

GOVERNANCE

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

SB 1255 – JD Mesnard (R-17) – OPPOSE – Would establish a Lieutenant Governor position.  Also OPPOSE SCR 1024 which would put the Lt Governor position question on the November ballot.

TAXATION AND THE GENERAL FUND

SB 1093 – JD Mesnard (R-17) – OPPOSE – Would shift state taxes from corporations to individuals by limiting corporate property taxes.

RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM TO ORGANIZESB 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.

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