It’s finally over: in one of the most anticlimactic endings we’ve ever seen at the Capitol, on Monday the 1st General Session of the 56th Legislature adjourned for the year (known as “sine die”).
In a nutshell, they passed a couple of bills and went home. Bills passed this session will take effect Oct. 30. And barring a special session, which is unlikely, we won’t see them again until January of next year.
Prop 400 heads to the ballot
After months of negotiations, the Republican-run legislature and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs finally came to an agreement on extending the transportation tax that has powered Maricopa County’s growth over the last 40 years. We credit new chief of staff (and veteran minority lawmaker) Chad Campbell: this situation carries echoes of the 2013 agreement he shepherded to expand Medicaid over the vehement but fruitless protests of then-legislators like Andy Biggs and Kelli Ward.
This Prop 400 deal boosts the amount spent on roads versus transit, and will move the Capitol light-rail extension by several blocks so Republican legislators don’t “have to literally cross this thing two or three times a day just to get to their parking lot” (a flippant comment which does little more than highlight the small-mindedness of objectors like Speaker Ben Toma). It permanently bans Arizona from restricting car sales “based on the vehicle’s energy source” — this means a measure intended only for Maricopa County will now ban the entire state from requiring all new cars sold after 2035 to be zero-emission, as nine other states have already done. (This is begging for a lawsuit, if you ask us.) The new Prop 400 will also not fund any more large-scale transit additions; cities are working to find ways to backfill funding to keep planned projects on track.
Notably, Senate President Warren Petersen, who has stayed in lockstep with fake elector Jake Hoffman and his ilk for most of the session, froze the far right out of negotiations, crafting the deal and helping secure the votes for its passage without consulting them. Once the legislature’s MAGA caucus learned of it, they adamantly opposed it, calling it “a 100% Hobbs-run Democrat love-fest” that would “strip you of your freedoms.” But the votes weren’t even close: SB1102 passed with veto-proof supermajorities, 43-14-3 in the House and 19-7-4 in the Senate.
Remember, many Republican lawmakers wanted to kill public transportation entirely (even saying the 32 million riders it logged last year “aren’t real people”), and they were willing to hijack the entire deal to advance that narrow agenda. That makes it nothing short of remarkable that a deal was reached and signed, imperfect though it was.
For that matter, the MAGA caucus’s continued histrionics are pretty remarkable, too. As conservative columnist Phil Boas observed, “This is how you produce the cumulative math that costs you three national elections in a row.”
Hobbs signs rental sales tax ban
As expected, Gov. Hobbs signed into law a new ban on residential rental sales taxes as part of Prop 400 negotiations. We’re disappointed in her capitulation, but not surprised by it. Republicans had to feel they were getting something, and their failure to transmit the bill for her signature was a dead giveaway that it was that something.
Even if a rental tax isn’t the best source of income, we hope Hobbs has a plan to address replacing the funding she’s bargained away for cities. SB1131 is forecast to reduce their revenue by $230 million per year and growing, beginning in 2025. The amount each city will lose varies, from $1.2 million (partially earmarked for road projects) in Buckeye, to $90 million (partially earmarked to hire 300 police officers and firefighters) in Phoenix.
Unsurprisingly, mayors have come out swinging. Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego challenged lawmakers to replace the lost funding, saying, "I don't believe the Arizona Legislature wants to defund the police, and they should step up and prove that." Republican lawmakers aren’t exactly disposed to go along; they’re saying these are essentially scare tactics and that cities already have enough money.
CEBV feels cities’ pain — not having money to do the work you need to do sucks. Help us continue our work with a donation:
Director nomination limbo
Before they went home for the year, the Arizona Senate confirmed DPS agency nominee Jeffrey Glover. The remaining long list of Gov. Hobbs' agency nominees remains in limbo.
It’s not just agency heads who are left in limbo. This active sabotage from the Senate makes matters worse. State staff must work in the dark, with no one to set direction or make key decisions. Everyday Arizonans suffer because the agencies they depend on can’t function. The effects are very real, and they ripple throughout our entire state.
That said, nominees can serve for up to a year without confirmation, and statute provides Gov. Hobbs with multiple options.1 Even more interesting, the path forward for her nominees depends on who you ask. Director Nominations Committee chair (and dysfunction architect) Jake Hoffman (R-15) and Petersen don’t agree on what should happen next.
Petersen says the committee will continue meeting over the interim, and that Hobbs might call a special session so some nominees can receive votes and leave the rest for next session. But Hoffman took a more firebrand approach: he doubled down on his alternate-reality agenda, complaining again that Hobbs’ recent executive orders were a "tyrannical use of executive authority" and implying he wouldn’t give any of her nominees a hearing until she rescinded her orders.
What’s next?
The MAGA caucus’ less-than-graceful loss on the Prop 400 deal has led to speculation that their influence at the Capitol may be waning. GOP pollster Paul Bentz observed, “A significant portion of that ‘freedom’ caucus really does not have a desire to negotiate, to govern, to have anything besides their purity test.” He also noted that one of the most significant takeaways from this legislative session was the “exposure of the split within the Republican party.” And as Republican lobbyist Kevin DeMenna mused, “Historically these groups have come and gone… there seems to be a life cycle associated with (them).” Next session will be the real test of whether that’s true.
⏰ Sign candidate petitions. Many state legislative districts already have candidates, who must gather a certain number of signatures in order to appear on the ballot. Lend them your support electronically — as long as you have either your driver license number or your voter registration number and the last 4 of your Social Security number ready, it’s easy!
⏰⏰ Help us register young voters. Reach out to a young person ASAP to connect them with our High School Voter Registration Challenge. Trainings are being held August 17 and August 26 for the upcoming October 2-6 voter registration drive.
This is critical because once young people are registered, they vote. The barrier isn’t apathy, it’s access: a staggering 86% of registered voters ages 18-24 turned out in 2020. That’s why CEBV is partnering with The Civics Center to help register every high school student in Arizona.
Because the most effective push will come from young people themselves, we’re looking for high school students to run voter registration drives at their Arizona high schools. It’s easier than it sounds: we’ll provide training, materials, support, and Democracy in a Box (stickers, posters customized to the school or mascot, pens, clipboards and more) to get the drives going.
High school students can sign up here. Non-students can share the sign-up link with kids, grandkids, nieces/nephews, neighbors, etc., or pass it to a teacher to share. NOTE: You don't need to be a registered voter to register others to vote — and you can pre-register yourself to vote if you will turn 18 by November 8, 2024.
Another way to help: give directly to CEBV so we can fund training, materials and support for these voter registration drives.
Questions? Or simply need a dose of inspiration? Watch our recent conversation with Laura Brill of the Civics Center.
Use our website. Civic Engagement Beyond Voting’s website features tons of resources, including a RTS training video that’s 5 minutes well spent.
Follow our social media. Our most timely updates are posted on Twitter.
Subscribe. Enter your email address below to have the entire text of these updates emailed to you. (This is driven by Substack, separately from our CEBV emails. Those will still exist: as always, they’ll contain additional information and calls to action, along with a link to the content here.)
This gets complicated. If you enjoy the weeds, as we do, we recommend you check out Will Humble’s blog over at the Arizona Public Health Association.