CEBV Weekly: February 26, 2024
An absolute avalanche of bills headed for the garbage heap — and a few very dangerous ones
After a week of absurdly long floor calendars, the Arizona Legislature is back to its regular committee routine. The pattern we’ll see now is, for the most part, House bills being heard in Senate committees, and vice versa.
It appears the majority of these “regular bills” (SBs and HBs) are destined for the garbage heap, by way of Gov. Hobbs’ well-used veto stamp. What exactly is the point?
We can help by making the public’s perception of those nonsense bills crystal clear. If you haven’t used RTS on them, now’s the time, especially for bills that are new to the Weekly (see “Spotlight” section below). And we must stop the absurd number of legislative referrals (SCRs and HCRs) headed for our ballots in November. These are incredibly destructive, and they must be treated accordingly.
You know the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”? We at CEBV continue to find it incredibly frustrating that the Republican majority in this legislature is throwing so many lemons at us (culture-war nonsense, attacks on our state’s most vulnerable, bills that make our problems worse) while refusing to hand over any sugar (failing to tackle Arizona’s actual problems).
For years, Republicans have controlled both Arizona’s House and Senate. Flipping even one of those two chambers would be a big change. “All of a sudden the Republicans would have to really compromise. You have to change the way you operate. I think we’d see a lot more compromise and moderate ideas float up to the governor for signature.”
We have an opportunity this November to elect a new legislative majority that is pro-democracy, pro-climate, pro-public education, pro-diversity, pro-common sense — in short, pro-America. Let’s get to work.
⏰ If you have 10 minutes: Use Request to Speak on the bills that are new to the Weekly; see “Spotlight” below.
⏰⏰ If you have 20 minutes: Also use RTS to oppose the bad ballot referral bills in committee this week; see “Ballot Referrals” below.
⏰⏰⏰ If you have 45 minutes: Use RTS on all bills in the Weekly.
⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 60 minutes: Join us on Zoom at 4pm on Sunday for our next CEBV Happy Hour conversation. This week’s featured guest is natural resource expert and former Audubon of Arizona leader Sarah Porter, who now heads the Kyl Center for Water Policy inside the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. We’ll meet every Sunday at 4 PM through the end of session. Sign up in advance here.
New to the Weekly
Several of these bills are attacks on Arizona’s water future sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), who has long been allowed to drive destructive environmental policies while quashing good ones. Thanks in large part to legislative gatekeepers like Griffin who thwart regulation of Arizona groundwater, rural wells are drying up, putting Arizona’s future at risk.
SB1060, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), is a watered-down version of a measure from last year (which Gov. Hobbs vetoed) that allows partisan observers inside the voting process on behalf of federal candidates, including during the setup process when other observers and the public are not permitted, in the name of “transparency.” State candidates would not be permitted this “transparency.” Allowing partisan candidate representatives to have this backstage access muddies a cleanly working process and could weaken confidence in our state’s elections. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1073, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), would make it a class 6 felony for protesters to block a highway, bridge or tunnel for more than 15 minutes after they’ve been told to leave, with a presumptive sentence of 1 year in state prison. This bill further criminalizes something that is already illegal. The sponsor has stated his goal is to criminalize protests, which are a First Amendment right. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
HB2016, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would give water users in the Douglas area up to 24 additional months to grandfather in their level of groundwater pumping. The Douglas community's water supply is already in peril, yet this would further delay the state’s ability to limit pumping. In 2022, voters in Cochise County (Griffin’s home county) circulated and approved a citizen ballot initiative to go around Griffin, who has long blocked groundwater management in the area, and regulate their community’s groundwater use by creating an Active Management Area for the Douglas basin. Griffin described the voter measure in committee as “a new enemy”; this measure would circumvent the will of those voters. The bill needs an emergency clause, and passed the House with that (veto-proof) bar, so your input is particularly needed. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
HB2017, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would allow builders to mix groundwater with river water or wastewater that serves other communities so they could undercut current state regulations on groundwater-reliant development. Currently, developers are required to show a 100-year assured water supply before building homes. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
HB2019, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), allows anybody to challenge the results of an Arizona Department of Water Resources report on groundwater levels. This undercuts the highly specialized work of ADWR hydrologists in order to accommodate homebuilders who want to continue developing subdivisions that rely on depleting our state’s precious groundwater. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
These bills have passed their chamber of origin and are now scheduled for committee hearings in the opposite chamber. This is your last chance to weigh in on them using RTS. After you’ve done that, consider calling your House representatives and urging them not to crowd the ballot with this nonsense.
SCR1020, Mesnard (R-13), would ask voters to amend the state Constitution to automatically extend the previous year’s state budget if lawmakers don’t pass one in time. This would remove the only real motivation for lawmakers to work together and avoid shutting down our state. Lawmakers' only constitutional responsibility is to pass a budget by the start of the new fiscal year (no later than June 30). The same bill failed to pass last year. Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
Monday
No bills here other than those in Rules committees (the House Rules agenda is still not out). Celebrate by making phone calls or sending emails to your lawmakers on other bills in motion.
Tuesday
SB1280, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would make those who are subject to registration as a sex offender ineligible to serve on public school boards. The bill does not mention ESA voucher-funded private schools. (Do these lawmakers think there are no predators at private schools? There are; here are several specific examples.) Please ask in your RTS comment that ESA voucher-funded private schools be added to the bill. Scheduled for House Education Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
SB1366, sponsored by Shawnna Bolick (R-2), would add blockchain (related to cryptocurrency) to Arizona’s “regulatory sandbox.” That program offers limited access to Arizona's market to test innovative financial products or services or other innovations without obtaining a license or other authorization. This would essentially deregulate a volatile playground for the mega-rich. Scheduled for House Commerce Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
HB2183, sponsored by Julie Willoughby (R-13), would require health care entities to give parents access to all of their minor children’s medical records, even for services that don’t require parental consent. This effectively would strip minors of their right to medical privacy and strip medical professionals of the right to exercise their professional judgment on when to divulge information. The bill is being pushed by the evangelical Christian lobbying group Center for Arizona Policy. Scheduled for Senate Health & Human Services Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.
Wednesday
SB1005, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would ban the state, including public schools, from requiring "diversity, equity, and inclusion programs" for its employees, spending public funds on such programs, or setting policies to influence the composition of its workforce on the basis of race, sex, or color. Any employee required to participate could sue. Diversity, equity and inclusion is a philosophy designed to harness the differences, talents and unique qualities of all individuals; this bill pretends our differences don’t exist. Hoffman introduced the same bill last year, which failed to pass. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1007, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would put Arizona public school teachers (but not teachers at ESA-funded private schools) behind bars for up to two years if they so much as recommend a book to students that lawmakers consider too “sexually explicit.” This would attempt to build on a 2022 ban which has already essentially frozen the teaching of books like “The Color Purple,” “The Canterbury Tales” and even conservatives’ darling “Atlas Shrugged,” keeping Arizona's students from getting a well-rounded education. State law already makes it a felony to show pornography to children. Hoffman introduced the same bill last year, which failed to pass. An amendment from Anna Hernandez (D-24) to require the same regulations of private schools was voted down on party lines. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1013, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would ban government from taking social or environmental values into consideration when investing. Arizona’s Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, which oversees pension funds for police and others, says the effort would hurt its goal of maximizing returns for its members. The concept appears driven by a panic that society will hold extremists accountable for their actions. One study says such efforts could cost Arizona millions. See our Substack explainer on ESG. Scheduled for House Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1060, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), is a watered-down version of a measure from last year (which Gov. Hobbs vetoed) that allows partisan observers inside the voting process on behalf of federal candidates, including during the setup process when other observers and the public are not permitted, in the name of “transparency.” State candidates would not be permitted this “transparency.” Allowing partisan candidate representatives this backstage access muddies a cleanly working process and could weaken confidence in our state’s elections. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1073, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), would make it a class 6 felony for protesters to block a highway, bridge or tunnel for more than 15 minutes after they’ve been told to leave, with a presumptive sentence of 1 year in state prison. This bill further criminalizes something that is already illegal. The sponsor has stated his goal is to criminalize protests, which are a First Amendment right. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1097, sponsored by Justine Wadsack (R-17), would make school board elections partisan, a move being pushed by national extremist organizations. Local school boards are our most democratic institutions and should stay above party politics the same way judges are tasked to, in order to steer clear of conflict that would keep them from doing their job or force party politics into public education. Making school boards partisan would complete their transformation into just another venue for extremist conflict. A similar bill failed its very first committee hearing in 2022. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1125, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), would require “age and identity verification” for companies that provide “material harmful to minors” over the internet to use are at least 18, or be subject to civil penalties. Similar legislation has been passed in at least 7 other states and has been introduced in Arizona in previous sessions. A district court blocked a similar law in Texas on grounds that it violates First Amendment rights and is overly vague. Rogers’ bill does nothing to ensure people’s privacy; as the court stated, "People will be particularly concerned about accessing controversial speech when the state government can log and track that access." See similar bill HB2586. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1155, sponsored by Janae Shamp (R-29), would limit those serving lifetime probation for a sexual offense from asking the court for relief until 10 to 20 years had passed (depending on the type of conviction). Read this excellent Twitter thread from a public policy advocate on why mandatory minimum sentences are a terrible idea. The sponsor introduced the same bill last year, which failed to pass. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1189, sponsored by Justine Wadsack (R-17), would ban cities from prohibiting or regulating gun shows within their boundaries. Unregulated gun shows can be a magnet for traffickers to obtain large quantities of weapons without background checks. Guns purchased at gun shows are much more likely to be used in criminal activity. Two years ago, California became the first state to ban the sale of guns and ammo on state property, putting an end to gun shows at county fairgrounds there. The sponsor ran the same bill last year, which Gov. Hobbs vetoed. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1198, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), would prohibit universities and community colleges from banning anyone with a concealed weapons permit — not just students — from possessing, storing, transporting guns on campus. College campuses and guns are a deadly combination, increasing the risks of suicide, homicide and sexual assault. Even our founding fathers believed guns had no place on college campuses. Getting a concealed-weapons permit in Arizona is ridiculously easy. This is at least the third straight year for this bill. Scheduled for House Judiciary Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1286, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-15), would require all district schools to close on primary and general election days, and district schools (but not charter or ESA voucher-funded schools) to offer their gymnasiums as polling places. Teachers would be required to attend inservice training and banned from taking a vacation day, presumably to keep them from working the polls. Arizona and the nation are already struggling to find enough election workers; it makes no sense to legislate a ban on teachers doing their patriotic duty — to say nothing of the disruption this would cause to families. Similar to a bill from last year that Gov. Hobbs vetoed. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1357, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), would move the signature affidavit on an early ballot to be inside the envelope for “privacy purposes.” The bill does not contain an appropriation for the cost of redesigning ballot materials, which would be substantial. Voting rights officials have not indicated the current setup, which is also used by multiple other states, poses any problem. Scheduled for House Municipal Oversight & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1370, sponsored by Shawnna Bolick (R-2), would ban cities from requiring businesses run by youth under 18 to be licensed or pay sales taxes if they make under $10,000 per year. This bill would prop up for-profit fairs that are closely tied with Arizona private schools and pro-voucher lobbyists. Removing requirements for licensure opens the door to exposing kids to predatory practices or exploiting kids whose parents receive state tax dollars to spend on their kids’ businesses, often in lieu of school instruction. It also cracks the door open to rolling back child labor laws, as is happening in multiple other states. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SB1495, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), would more than double certain business property tax exemptions, from $207,366 to $500,000 per taxpayer. With a projected deficit of more than $1.7 billion caused in large part by oversized tax cuts, now is not the time to give away even more state revenue via tax cuts! Passed Senate 3rd 2/15. Scheduled for House Ways & Means Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
SCR1020, sponsored by JD Mesnard (R-13), would ask voters to amend the state Constitution to automatically extend the previous year’s state budget if lawmakers don’t pass one in time. This would remove the only real motivation for lawmakers to work together and avoid shutting down our state. Lawmakers' only constitutional responsibility is to pass a budget by the start of the new fiscal year (no later than June 30). The same bill failed to pass last year. Scheduled for House Appropriations Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
HB2178, sponsored by Alexander Kolodin (R-3), would allow students at Arizona’s public universities to dedicate their student activity fees to specific university-recognized student organizations or clubs. A university should retain final say over the funding allocation for its programs, rather than the legislature inserting itself in the minutiae of university budgeting. Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.
Thursday
HB2016, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would give water users in the Douglas area up to 24 additional months to grandfather in their level of groundwater pumping. The Douglas community's water supply is already in peril, yet this would further delay the state’s ability to limit pumping. In 2022, voters in Cochise County (Griffin’s home county) circulated and approved a citizen ballot initiative to go around Griffin, who has long blocked groundwater management in the area, and regulate their community’s groundwater use by creating an Active Management Area for the Douglas basin. Griffin described the voter measure in committee as “a new enemy”; this measure would circumvent the will of those voters. The bill needs an emergency clause, and passed the House with that bar, so your input is particularly needed. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
HB2017, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), would allow builders to mix groundwater with river water or wastewater that serves other communities so they could undercut current state regulations on groundwater-reliant development. Currently, developers are required to show a 100-year assured water supply before building homes. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
HB2019, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), allows anybody to challenge the results of an Arizona Department of Water Resources report on groundwater levels. This undercuts the highly specialized work of ADWR hydrologists in order to accommodate homebuilders who want to continue developing subdivisions that rely on depleting our state’s precious groundwater. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
HB2123, sponsored by Austin Smith (R-29), would ban Arizona and its cities and counties from requiring water measuring devices for many rural wells. This in effect prevents the measuring and tracking of rural groundwater levels, which in turn contributes to continued overpumping. Researchers warn that Arizona’s groundwater is currently seriously overallocated, with unsustainable pumping threatening the state’s water future. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
HB2244, sponsored by Quang Nguyen (R-1), would ban vegetarian food products from being labeled as “meat” or “poultry” in an “attempt to deter consumers.” Violations would incur fines of up to $100,000 per day. Similar legislation has been introduced or passed in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Arkansas. Several years ago, a federal court blocked the Arkansas law for confusing consumers in order to benefit the state’s meat industry. Passed the House with 6 dems supporting. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
HB2406, sponsored by John Gillette (R-30), would allow meat, poultry and seafood products made from animals that were not given a mRNA vaccination to be labeled "mRNA free." The bill appears to be driven by a false conspiracy theory that mRNA vaccines have entered the US food supply. A similar bill was introduced last year in Tennessee. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, Thursday. OPPOSE.
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Bills in Rules Committees
Rules exists only to consider whether a bill is constitutional and in the proper form for passage; the committee doesn’t take testimony and doesn’t read comments. These bills will proceed to caucus (separate partisan meetings of all Democrats and all Republicans, which usually happen Tuesdays) and from there to a full floor vote. Contact your senator for Senate bills, your representatives for House bills.
SB1148, sponsored by Anthony Kern (R-27), would give every Arizona taxpayer 65 and older a one-time $250 state tax rebate, at an estimated cost of $390 million. Arizona faces a jaw-dropping $1.7 billion deficit, thanks in part to unbridled tax cuts. As 81-year-old Lela Alston (D-5) said in explaining her NO vote, “I would love to pass this if we had the money, but we don’t.’’ Scheduled for Senate Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.
SB1387, sponsored by Lela Alston (D-5), would gradually raise the monthly stipend for kinship foster care parents (those related to the child) to the same $600 per month that every other foster parent gets. Kinship foster parents are often grandparents raising grandkids; the bill sponsor, who has been working for parity for these families since 2019, says some families must send the children back to the state because they cannot afford to take care of them. The sponsor has been working to pass this policy for many years. Scheduled for Senate Rules Committee, Monday. SUPPORT.
SB1464, sponsored by Ken Bennett (R-1), would appropriate $500,000 from the general fund in FY2024-25 to ADE to award grants to school districts and charter schools to build community gardens. School gardens offer many benefits, including making healthy food more appealing to kids, helping fight hunger, and aiding emotional regulation. The idea from Lela Alston (D-5) was incorporated into last year’s budget, but expires June 30. Scheduled for Senate Rules Committee, Monday. SUPPORT.
SB1472, sponsored by Anthony Kern (R-27), would ban the state, including public schools, from requiring "diversity, equity, and inclusion programs" for its employees, spending public funds on such programs, or setting policies to influence the composition of its workforce on the basis of race, sex, or color. Any employee required to participate could sue. Diversity, equity and inclusion is a philosophy designed to harness the differences, talents and unique qualities of all individuals; this bill pretends our differences don’t exist. Republican lawmakers have introduced 50 similar anti-DEI bills in 20 states. Similar to a bill from last year, which failed to pass, and to SB1005, Hoffman (R-15), which has already passed the Senate. Scheduled for Senate Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.
2024 Session Timeline
Friday, 3/22 Last day for a bill to get out of committees in its crossover house (and the last day to use RTS until a budget drops) Tuesday, 4/16 100th Day of Session (the stated end goal; can be changed)
Flag this handy list of contact info, committee chairs and assignments, updated for 2024.
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