COCONINO COUNTY DEMOCRATS
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
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:
BILLS AUTHORED BY LD 7 REPRESENTATIVES
HCR 2028 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Refers to the ballot a signature verification process that can result in disqualifying more voters.
SCR 1001 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to ban the use of photo radar!! Another attempt to by-pass the Governor’s veto pen by going directly to the ballot.
SB 1125 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Would require “age and identity verification” for companies that provide “material harmful to minors” over the internet. The state of course would be able monitor such access. See HB 2586 – same bill in the House.
SB 1127 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Would ban cities and counties from imposing any tax or fee on anyone running a blockchain node (aka, mining cryptocurrency). Each bitcoin transaction consumes enough electricity to run an American home for 6 weeks!!
SB 1128 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Would allow state agencies to accept cryptocurrency as payment for anything from taxes to fees to fines and assessments.
SB 1129 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Would require law enforcement to immediately remove any “transient occupant” of private residential property and charge them with trespassing. State statutes already exist to cover this behavior.
SB 1197 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Would exempt virtual currency from taxation!
SCR 1010 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Same as SB 1197 but sent directly to the ballot to avoid the Governor’s veto (like she did last year).
SB 1190 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Would penalize cities, such as Flagstaff, for voting to set a higher minimum wage than the state’s.
SB 1198 – Rogers – OPPOSE – Would prohibit universities and community colleges from banning ANYONE with a concealed weapons permit from possessing, storing, transporting guns on campus.
VOTING
SB 1131 – Kavanagh – OPPOSE – Would require local elections in which less than 25% of eligible voters vote to be repeated on the next statewide or federal election ballot???!!! This will cause huge issue for local government and leave things in limbo as they await the do over!
HB 2405 – Gillette – OPPOSE – Would allow a county recorder to declare a person’s voter registration status as inactive, disenfranchising more voters.
SB 1240 – Shamp – OPPOSE – Would make the record of anything scanned by a voting machine a public record. Just another example of conspiracy theory enthusiasts endless quest for election wrongdoing.
SB 1286 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Would require all district schools to close on primary and general election days, and district schools (not ESA voucher funded schools) to offer their gymnasiums as polling places.
SB 1288 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Would ban “electronic vote adjudication” or the process of resolving ballots that may include things like write-in votes, overvotes or marks in the margins. A process used currently only sparingly and there is no good reason to halt its use.
SB 1357 – Mesnard – OPPOSE – Would move the signature affidavit on an early ballot to be inside the envelope for “privacy purposes”. The bill has no appropriation to make such an expensive change. Our current format is used in several other states and no one has indicated there was a problem.
HB 2588 – Dunn – OPPOSE – Would require notaries to get a valid fingerprint clearance card, provide a thumbprint with each notarization and notify the secretary of state via certified mail if they change their email address! Unnecessary red tape!
HB 2404 – Gillette – OPPOSE – Would ban county recorders from providing a voter registration card to someone whose mailing address is out of state. Would impact retirees, winter visitors and college students the most.
HB 2472 – McGarr – OPPOSE – Allows any voter to challenge the election due to a break in chain of custody on ballots inconsistent signatures or information on early ballots. It includes a lot of other election conspiracy theory provisions.
HB 2474 – Kolodin – OPPOSE – Would make it harder to circulate petitions to form a new political party.
WATER SUSTAINABILITY
HB 2020 – Griffin – OPPOSE – Allows long-term storage credits for stormwater infrastructure that my result in incidental recharge.
HB 2060 – Griffin – OPPOSE – Would allow an individual who owns lands that can be irrigated to retire those acres and substitute them for others and use the water for any purpose.
HB 2367 – Griffin – SUPPORT – Would authorize the AZ Dept of Environmental Quality to establish various solid waste fees via rulemaking. The current fees in statute are far too low.
SB 1242 – Shope – OPPOSE – Sets licensing time frames too aggressively so that it would result in a rush to approve and cut out adequate public review of applications for assured water supply.
AIR QUALITY
HB 2545 & HB 2546 – Jones – OPPOSE – Would exempt any vehicle manufactured after 2018 from emissions testing.
LAND DEVELOPMENT
HB 2647 – Griffin – OPPOSE – would allow a landowner who has an irrigation right in an active management area to retire the land from irrigation but retain credit to non-irrigation use of the land. This is a way to circumvent assured water supply requirements for subdivision developments.
ENVIRONMENT
SB 1147 – Kern – OPPOSE – Would appropriate $250,000 for the livestock compensation fund to reward irresponsible livestock interests when a wolf kills or harms any of their livestock.
SB 1176 – Gowan – SUPPORT – Appropriates $250,000 for the Arizona Trail Fund
SB 1195 – Kern – OPPOSE – This is just a wacky bill!! It would prohibit any public entity from promoting, advocating or planning for or belonging to any organization that: aims to reduce meat and dairy consumption, reduces or replaces vehicle travel with walking, biking or public transit, aims to reuse water for human consumption, tries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, tries to limit the increase in the average global temperature, etc. Just incredible!!
SCR 1015 – Kern – OPPOSE – Same as SB 1195 but refers it to the ballot and makes it immune from Governor’s veto.
HCR 2040 – Smith – OPPOSE – Same as SB 1195 but is the house version to refer to the ballot and avoid the Governor’s veto.
SB 1066 – Borrelli – OPPOSE – Would impose a $12.5 cent payout rate per kilowatt hour on solar panel supplied electricity. Down from the current $13.0 cent rate. This is just intended to discourage solar.
DIVERSITY AND ESG
HB 2457 – Montenegro – OPPOSE – Prohibits any investments by the state that consider environmental, social, or governance goals.
GOVERNANCE
HB 2491 – Bliss – OPPOSE – Would change the makeup of the Governor’s Regulator Review Council (the entity that must review all rules) by increasing the number of members appointed by the Senate President and the House Speaker. Likely would result in shutting down positive rulemaking.
HB 2593 – Carbone – SUPPORT – Would require responses to public records requests within five days, notifying people of when their request will be fulfilled and provides for civil penalties for willful noncompliance.
HB 2719 – Carbone – OPPOSE – Would require a number of items relative to bond elections, including the requirement that at least 60% of voters turnout to vote on the bond for the election to be valid.
SB 1112 – Borrelli – OPPOSE – Would preempt cities with over 50,000 residents from regulating most zoning for single-family homes, including lot size, square footage, lot coverage, etc. It’s supposed to solve the affordable housing issue but it’s really a huge giveaway to developers.
HB 2570 – Biasiucci – OPPOSE – Would ban cities of over 50,000 population from regulating most zoning for single-family homes, including lot size, square footage or dimension, lot coverage, accessory structures, etc. Incredible!
SCR 1020 – Mesnard – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to amend the constitution to automatically extend the previous year’s budget if lawmakers don’t pass one in time. Would remove the only real motivation for lawmakers to work together and avoid shutting down the state.
SB 1461 – Bennett – OPPOSE – Would restructure the state charter board by giving the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate greater authority to appoint members.
SB 1475 – Kern – OPPOSE – Would specify that a presidential candidate can be a civil criminal and a felon and still run for president. Clearly aimed to provide cover for the Donald.
SB 1145 – Kern – OPPOSE – Would fine the Bar and the state Supreme Court for “infringing” on “political speech” of lawyers. Aimed to benefit people like Alex Kolodin (R-3) who was disciplined for filing bad-faith lawsuits over the 2020 election as well as Kern (R-27) who was ordered to pay $75,000 in legal fees for filing a frivolous lawsuit over his role in the January 6 insurrection.
SB 1153 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Prohibits a proposed rule from becoming effective, if the rule is estimated to increase regulatory costs by more than $500,000 within five years.
SB 1153 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Prohibits a proposed rule from becoming effective, if the rule is estimated to increase regulatory costs by more than $500,000 within five years.
SCR 1012 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Same provision as SB 1153 but to be sent to the ballot in 2024 to avoid Governor Hobbs veto.
HB 2471 – McGarr – OPPPOSE – Would require all rules developed by the state administration to be approved by a majority of the AZ legislature. Would tie the hands of state agencies and likely is a separation of powers issue.
EDUCATION
SB 1187 – Kavanagh – OPPOSE – Would require public schools in a district that has a bond or override election on the ballot to be polling places. This would void the available space and child safety exemptions currently in statute.
SB 1455 – Bennett – SUPPORT – Would extend the deadline for public school tax credits to be used for broader purposes, including capital items, school meal programs, playground equipment, etc.
SB 1280 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Would make those who are subject to registration as a sex offender ineligible to serve on public school boards. This is great but it DOES NOT include this requirement for ESA voucher-funded schools! Use RTS to Demand that it include ESA schools too.
SB 1287 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Would ban schools from exposing minors to so-called “sexually explicit materials”. The definition is so broad that it would ban many classic works of literature from Shakespeare to Maya Angelou.
SB 1369 – Bolick – OPPOSE – Would substantially increase the administrative load of public schools (not ESA funded schools).
SB 1370 – Bolick – OPPOSE – Would ban cities from requiring businesses run by youth under 18 to be licensed or pay sales tax if they make under $10,000 per year. This is likely aimed to provide another avenue for school voucher dollars to be funneled into child businesses.
SB 1465 – Bennett – SUPPORT – Would make the required literacy endorsement for certificated K-5 teachers voluntary. The requirements currently have to be met by teachers on their own time and expense and is causing many educators to leave the classroom.
SB 1583 – Wadsack – OPPOSE – Would require each public school to give parents an over view of the ESA voucher program, including award amount and approved expenses; a list of charter schools located a “reasonable distance” from the school, etc. Clearly a marketing ploy to support ESA vouchers.
SCR 1027 – Mesnard – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to put a new version of Prop 123 in the state constitution that restricts funds to “eligible teachers” only, rather than the many and varied needs of public schools as the expiring version of Prop 123 allows.
SCR 1034 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to set the actual salary schedule for Prop 123. This is normally done by the legislature internally but if its put in the constitution how do you tweak it later?
HB 2483 – Parker – OPPOSE – Would require public schools and universities to disclose their admissions criteria and would regulate any supposed discrimination. This DOES NOT apply to ESA voucher schools!
HB 2095 – Barbara Parker – OPPOSE – Would expand School Tuition Organization (STO) vouchers to students in foster care. Governor Hobbs vetoed this bill last year.
HB 2442 – Payne – OPPOSE – Would ban emergency use immunizations from being required for school attendance.
TAXATION
SB 1190 – Wadsack – OPPOSE – Would create another special vehicle license plate. AZ already has 101 special plates causing a lot of difficulty for law enforcement. We don’t need anymore special plates.
SB 1495 – Mesnard – OPPOSE – Would more than double certain business property tax exemptions. With an expected $1.7 Billion budget shortfall we don’t need another tax break for business.
SB 1639 – Carroll – OPPOSE – Would establish a tax cut for out-of-state remote sellers. This would result in long term, negative and potentially disastrous impacts for the state general fund.
SB 1092 – Petersen – OPPOSE – Allows people to deduct losses in foreign currency trades and from cryptocurrency off their taxes. Based on another conspiracy theory.
CONSPIRACY THEORY BASED
SB 1360 – Carroll – OPPOSE – Would ban the use of artificial intelligence or learning hardware, firmware or software in elections. Motivated by conspiracy theories that his technology can be used to maliciously mix up signatures and register dead voters!
SB 1639 – Carroll – OPPOSE – Would establish a study committee on gold and silver currency. Based on a belief that our banking system is imploding and the end of Western Civilization as we know it is imminent.
SB 1279 – Hoffman – OPPOSE – Would ban “any method of representing or honoring Satan”. Incredible.
AGRICULTURE
HB 2121 – Marshall – OPPOSE – Would ban the sale or production of lab-grown meat and would allow anyone whose business is “adversely affected” (such as ranchers) to sue.
FOSTER CARE
SB 1387 – Alston – SUPPORT – Would gradually raise the monthly stipend for kinship foster care parents to the same $600 per month that every other foster parent gets.
PUBLIC SAFETY
SB 1406 – Shamp – OPPOSE – Would require he Arizona Medical Board to give licenses to practice medicine to international graduates who have not completed an accredited US residency. This is not allowed anywhere else in the US.
SB 1231 – Shamp – OPPOSE – Would make it a state crime to cross a federal border without the required documentation and give local police immunity to arrest migrants crossing the border (a la the old SB 1070 bill).
HB 2389 – Kolodin – OPPOSE – Would ban the sale of any vehicle in Arizona that can be remotely shut off by someone other than the owner. This would negate all attempts to shut off vehicles when the drivers are sensed to be intoxicated.
SB 1169 – Wadsack – OPPOSE – Would ban cities from prohibiting or regulating gun shows within their boundaries.
SB 1344 – Kern – OPPOSE – Would expand Arizona’s first-degree murder statues to include deaths by fentanyl if the drug can be traced back to a specific individual. The bills broad language could subject friends or families of overdose victims unfairly.
HB 2328 – Payne – OPPOSE – Would relax regulations on food trucks. Payne owns a food truck.
LGBTQ RIGHTS
SB 1166 – Kavanagh – OPPOSE – Would force schools to notify parents within five days if their minor child asked a teacher to use a preferred pronoun or name different from their biological sex or given name.
SB 1182 – Kavanagh – OPPOSE – Would ban trans kids from using the showers at school that align with their gender identify. A federal court found such restrictions violate the US Constitution and Title IX.
SCR 1013 – Kavanagh – OPPOSE – Would ask voters to ban trans kids from using school bathrooms, changing facilities and “sleeping quarters” that align with their gender identities.
HOMELESSNESS
HB 2658 – Chaplik – OPPOSE – Would ban pedestrians from soliciting donations on a painted or raised traffic island or median. Would criminalize homelessness and not deal with the underlying issues causing homelessness.
DIVERSITY AND ESG
SB 1167 – Kavanagh – OPPOSE – Would ban banks from “discriminating” against people or businesses for holding right-wing views. This is even more ludicrous than typical anti-ESG bills.
PRIVACY
HB 2586 – Dunn – OPPOSE – Would require “age and identity verification” for companies that provide “material harmful to minors” over the internet. The state of course would be able monitor such access. See SB 1125 – same bill in the Senate.
HB 2661 – Toma – OPPOSE – Would bar the sale of computers, smart phones and tablets in AZ if they don’t include a filter that would block children from accessing “obscene content”.
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