Request to Speak is a unique tool that the AZ state legislature has available for Arizonians to make comments opposing or supporting bills making their way through the legislature. To learn more about Request to Speak visit https://www.cebv.us/rts.html
To use Request to Speak visit https://apps.azleg.gov/RequestToSpeak
NOTE: Even if you use RTS to respond to these actions, you might consider contacting our legislators via phone or e-mail as well to reinforce your opposition or support for a particular bill. For legislator contact information follow this link:
USE RTS (Request to Speak) System For these Bills
VOTING RIGHTS
SB1003 – OPPOSE – Would restrict voters from adding their signature to their early ballot envelope to no later than 7 PM on Election Day. Current law allows early ballot “curing” or fixing up to 5 days following Election Day.
SB1020 – OPPOSE – Would ban county recorders from designating emergency non-electioneering polling places unless there is an “act of God” that renders other facilities unusable.
SB1068 – OPPOSE – Would require the secretary of state’s elections rules to be signed off on by the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council (GRRC), a partisan body of gubernatorial appointees, and the Legislative Council.
SB1105 – OPPOSE – Would increase the summary printed atop ballot measures such as citizen initiatives from 100 to 200 words. This limitation has been used to disqualify initiatives that the Goldwater Institute and the Chamber of Commerce and other similar groups don’t like.
SB1240 – OPPOSE – Would require ballots from voting centers to be separated by precinct before county recorders make the required 2% hand count. An unnecessary change that is sure to be costly and time-consuming.
SB1358 – OPPOSE – Would ban county recorders from holding voter registration drives at any location other than government-owned ones. This bill would result in a drastic reduction in citizen engagement.
SB1010 – OPPOSE – Would allow anyone to request a recount of an election, through tabulation machines or by hand, and regardless of the margin of victory, as long as they post a bond to cover the cost.
SB1069 – OPPOSE – Would strip voters from the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) if they fail to vote their early ballots in two back-to-back primary and general elections, purging some 225,000 voters from the PEVL. The bill also has been amended to strip the word “permanent” from statute, making PEVL simple the Early Voting List.
EDUCATION
HB2098 – SUPPORT – Would require schools to submit missing child reports to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
SB1376 – SUPPORT – Would require health education instruction in schools to include a mental health component.
SB1452 – OPPOSE – This is a dangerous expansion of ESA vouchers that would expand eligibility for the program to two-thirds of the school kids in Arizona, expands the ways the money can be used, and even allows double-dipping into other tax credit voucher programs. The bill would allow the draining of money established by Prop 208 as fast as voters put the funds in.
HB2125 – SUPPORT – Allows students PreK-4 to be suspended or expelled only if engaged in dangerous conduct (weapons, drugs, health, or safety) on school grounds. Suspension and expulsion in early childhood is an issue that disproportionately affects children of color.
SB1273 – OPPOSE – Would expand the use of School Tuition Organization (STO) tax credit vouchers to a laundry list of new expenses, including extracurricular activities, band uniforms, lab materials, even out-of-state school trips. Purported to be for “poor children” these tax credits are disproportionately used by wealthy families who can easily already pay for these items. Donations to STO’s topped $200 million in 2018, every dollar to a STO is a dollar that does not go to the state’s general fund to support public education.
SB1135 – OPPOSE – Would increase the allowable dollar-for-dollar 529 tax deduction, currently a total of $2,000 single/$4,000 couple, to be $2,000 / $4,000 per 529 beneficiary. The change would be retroactive to 2020. There is no estimate of the cost to Arizona’s general fund as a result of this proposed bill.
SB1227 – SUPPORT – Would create a study committee to identify the most appropriate class size for Arizona students and determine the most appropriate methods to reduce class sizes. Arizona has the nation’s largest class sizes, which slows down students’ collective achievement.
TAXATION & GENERAL FUNDING
SB1331 – OPPOSE – Would exempt income from military pensions from state income tax. This would exclude 90% of Arizona veterans and would reduce the General Fund by $45 million each year.
SB1108 – OPPOSE – Would cut property taxes that fund public schools nearly in half. This would reduce state revenues by $166 million annually. This is only supported by corporations and real estate developers.
SB1260 – OPPOSE – Would exempt disabled veterans from state property taxes, contingent on voter approval of a separate bill (SCR 1019). A commendable sentiment but Arizona gives away in tax credits more than we spend. If we want to care for disable veterans then lets institute educational and economic support programs, improve health care and establish other safety nets.
NATIVE AMERICAN SUPPORT
HB2215 – SUPPORT – Would appropriate $35 million to the Hopi Tribe for Route H60, a 13 mile stretch of dirt road that connects the Navajo community of Low Mountain with the Hopi community of Polacca. The road, which frequently washes out, would connect 7 school districts.
HB2228 – SUPPORT – Would allot $900,000 for repairs to Ganado School Loop Road in northeastern Arizona. The road hasn’t been maintained in 28 years. It is the only point of access to K-12 schools and the community hospital.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
HB2261 – SUPPORT – A package of reforms for incarcerated women. It would require prisons to provide a sufficient supply of menstrual hygiene products, allow for regular visitation of children, limit strip searches by male employees, restrict the use of restraints on pregnant women and require that they be fed nutritious meals.
SB1381 – OPPOSE – Would ban ending a pregnancy on the basis of any disability in the fetus, even one incompatible with life. This is a monstrous attack on families dealing with the imminent loss of a baby that has no hope of survival.
SB1457 – OPPOSE – Would represent a multi-pronged attack on the rights and agency of women. It would give “unborn children at every stage of development” the same rights as an actual person, possibly violating the Constitution. It makes abortion due to any genetic abnormality, including one incompatible with life, a class 3 felony. It would allow a sperm donor and his parents to sue for damages if a woman chose to end her pregnancy. It would require abortion remains to be buried or cremated instead of being disposed of as medical waste. It would ban abortion inducing drugs via ‘courier, delivery or mail” (which is an outright ban; how else are they to be distributed?).
PUBLIC SAFETY
HB2366 – OPPOSE – Would increase the criminal speeding threshold from 85 to 90. In a crash at speeds over 50 MPH the force of impact doubles with every 10 MPH increase in speed, which also increases the risk of serious injury and death.
HB2395 – SUPPORT – Would make it illegal for people to park their vehicles such that they block the sidewalk. Such blockage can create access issues for people who use wheelchairs and walkers or push strollers, not to mention children.
SB1382 – OPPOSE – WENDY ROGERS – Would redefine firearms and ammunition stores as “essential businesses”, preventing the governor from closing them during a state of emergency.
CORPORATION COMMISSION
HB2737 – OPPOSE – Would allow any lawmaker to order Arizona’s Attorney General to investigate the Arizona Corporation Commission, and would require 10% of the commission’s operating budget to be withheld if the Arizona Supreme Court determines this agency has exceeded its statutory authority or is not executing or enforcing statue. This punitive bill is in line with other recent efforts to strip the commission of some of its fundamental powers.
HB2248 – OPPOSE – Would prohibit the Arizona Corporation Commission from regulating the types of electric generation used by public service corporations, retroactive to June 2020. In other words, the entity that is supposed to regulate power companies in Arizona would be left unable to require clean energy standards.
GOVERNANCE
SCR1003 – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to allow the governor to declare a state of emergency for 14 days. After that, both chambers of the legislature would need to reauthorize it or go into special session.
SCR1010 – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to amend the constitution to require the legislature ot go into special session for the duration of any declaration of emergency.
SCR1014 – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to limit the governor’s state of emergency powers to 21 days and require legislative reauthorization every 21 days.
HCR2002 – OPPOSE – Is a non-binding resolution to support a constitutional amendment limiting the US Supreme Court to nine justices.
BILL NOT AVAILABLE FOR RTS – CONTACT LEGISLATORS DIRECTLY
SB1041 – OPPOSE – Would quadruple over 3 years the amount Arizona spends on a specific type of corporate School Tuition Organization tax credit (from $5 million to $20 million), then tie its growth to 2% or inflation. A growth cap is important because overall donations for STO vouchers topped $1 billion in 2017 and are paid from by dollar-for-dollar credits from the state’s general fund. Arizona just capped STO voucher growth last year.
If you have questions about the Coconino Democrats Legislative Committe please reach out to Darrell Boomgaarden at
If you need help troubleshooting RTS or have any technical difficulties please feel free to reach out to Kyle Nitschke at or (480) 560-4652
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