CEBV Weekly: May 5, 2025
A dangerous bill that deserves a veto. A voucher poison pill in the Constitution. Bad votes and bad decisions.
Monday marks day 113 of what is supposed to be a 100-day legislative session. As past sessions have shown us, nothing good ever happens at this stage — and true to form, Republicans are pressing forward with a plan to cement Arizona's unchecked universal ESA voucher boondoggle, without any financial or academic accountability or guardrails, into the state Constitution.
Vouchers in the Constitution? Negotiations on a renewal of Prop 123 have been stalled since last year; they broke down over Republicans’ refusal to include critical needs such as support staff, general school funding, school capital and safety improvements. Now, in an apparent attempt to garner enough Republican support to pass the scheme along partisan lines, lawmakers such as Matt Gress (R-4) are holding teacher pay hostage by trying to tie it to a voucher poison pill.
Illegal. Putting two separate measures into one ballot measure is an unlawful violation of the Separate Amendments provision of the state Constitution, and will not stand in the courts. Public education advocacy group Save Our Schools Arizona says of the scheme, “SOSAZ will be taking a close look at the bill with our lawyer when it drops. If it’s anything like what’s being reported, our message to the Legislature is this: We’ll see you in court.” And, of course, it’s us — the taxpayers of Arizona — who will pay to defend Republican lawmakers’ reckless disregard of the law.
Unpopular. Tying ESA vouchers to teacher pay is a complete nonstarter for Democratic lawmakers and the vast majority of Arizona voters. The original Prop 123, which had full bipartisan support and backing from the business and education communities, passed in 2016 by less than 51%. Two-thirds of Arizonans overwhelmingly rejected universal ESA vouchers at the ballot box in 2018. The scheme is also a non-starter for Gov. Hobbs — but Republicans can send the measure to the November 2026 ballot without her.
“The reckless partisan games from politicians in the Legislature need to come to an end before they endanger pay raises for teachers in order to gut public education.” — Gov. Hobbs, asked about tying vouchers to Prop 123
Dangerous. Republicans refuse any transparency or accountability for public dollars in the $1 billion taxpayer-funded universal ESA voucher program. Meanwhile, universal vouchers are gutting our state budget, triggering budget deficits, and dramatically reducing available resources for K-12 schools, higher education, health care, roads, transportation and water. Enshrining this boondoggle forever into the state Constitution is reckless and irresponsible.
The dangerous Prop 123 / voucher mashup is expected to be heard on the Senate floor on Tuesday. Republican lawmakers need a reminder that, when Arizonans said no to vouchers, we meant it! For more information on this issue, check out this week’s education report from Save Our Schools Arizona.
⏰ If you have 5 minutes: Directly contact Gov. Hobbs (602-542-4331 / engage@az.gov) and ask her to veto HB2880. See “Spotlight” below for more.
⏰⏰ If you have 10 minutes: Also directly contact your state senator and representatives to demand they support only a clean renewal of Prop 123, one that contains no poison pills or voucher gimmicks. If your reps are Democrats, thank them for their opposition and ask them to hold firm. If your reps are Republicans, tell them their scheme is unacceptable and they must correct course.
⏰⏰⏰ If you have 20 minutes: Also directly contact the lawmakers in the “Hall of Shame” section below to tell them what you think.
⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 30 minutes: Also choose one or more other bills from the “Veto Watch” section below and directly contact Gov. Hobbs (602-542-4331 / engage@az.gov) with your veto request.
⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 45 minutes: Also express your opposition on other CEBV-opposed bills scheduled for floor votes this week by directly contacting your state senator (for bills headed to the Senate floor) or representatives (for bills headed to the House floor). RTS will not work here. See the “Call: Bills on the Floor” section below for more.
⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 60 minutes: Join us on Zoom for our next CEBV Happy Hour conversation. After our usual state legislative rundown, we’ll hear from the spring cohort of CEBV Fellows, an inspiring group of ten young people aged 16-22, who will share their Capstone presentations with us. Happy Hour meets every Sunday at 4 PM through the end of legislative session. Sign up in advance here.
This dangerous, potentially unconstitutional bill advanced with bipartisan support and awaits Gov. Hobbs’ signature or veto. She needs to hear from us!
HB2880 (Alma Hernandez, D-20) would ban “encampments” on university and community college campuses. The bill’s broad language leaves a lot to interpretation. It’s important to think about who’s interpreting that language in light of our new national landscape of purposeful harm, chaos and confusion. This would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional intrusion on First Amendment rights at a time when our government is literally disappearing people for exercising their First Amendment right to protest genocide. School administrators can choose to impose restrictions on protests, but lawmakers shouldn’t target encampments just because they dislike someone’s point of view. That’s the very discrimination they purport to oppose, and in an environment where people are being abducted and deported without due process, it’s unconscionable.
Contact the governor at 602-542-4331 or engage@az.gov and urge her to veto HB2880.
One of our tasks is to hold our allies accountable. This section calls out those who voted in favor of harmful bills. We ask them to heed and do better.
👎 Alma Hernandez (D-20), 👎 Consuelo Hernandez (D-21) and 👎 Lydia Hernandez (D-24) for voting YES on SB1025 on the House floor. This bill would allow the state treasurer and state retirement systems (such as those serving teachers and first responders) to invest up to 10% of their public monies in "virtual currency." Cryptocurrency is a terrible retirement investment: it’s speculative, has no intrinsic value, is not backed by any regulatory mechanism, and is 5 to 10 times as volatile as the US stock market. This bill gambles with our tax dollars and Arizonans’ lifetime savings. None of the three explained their votes. The bill now proceeds to Gov. Hobbs for her signature or veto. Contact Alma at ahernandez@azleg.gov or 602-926-3136; Consuelo at chernandez@azleg.gov or 602-926-3523; and Lydia at lhernandez@azleg.gov or 602-926-3553.
👎 Lydia Hernandez (D-24) for voting YES on SB1443 on the House floor. This bill would give parents the explicit legal right to make mental health care decisions for their minor child, and creates a mandatory minimum $2,500 judgment against "governmental entities or officials" (such as schools and teachers) who violate that "right." This would put at risk every public school teacher and school counselor who supports the mental health of a minor student with unsupportive parents. Just last month in Florida, a high school teacher who used a student's preferred name had her teaching contract not renewed and saw a state review of her professional certificate, putting into jeopardy her future employment. Rep. Hernandez did not explain her vote. The bill now proceeds to Gov. Hobbs for her signature or veto. Contact Hernandez at lhernandez@azleg.gov or 602-926-3553.
👎 Eva Diaz (D-22), 👎 Sally Ann Gonzales (D-20) and 👎 Kiana Sears (D-9) for voting YES on HB2880 on the House floor. This bill would ban “encampments” on university and community college campuses. At a time when our government is literally disappearing students for exercising their First Amendment right to protest against genocide, this bill is reprehensible. Universities have long been a place for student protests; lawmakers shouldn’t target these protests just because they dislike the students’ views. The bill would not have passed without support from these three lawmakers. HB2880 now proceeds to Gov. Hobbs for her signature or veto. Contact Diaz at eva.diaz@azleg.gov or 602-926-3473. Contact Gonzales at sgonzales@azleg.gov or 602-926-3278. Contact Sears at ksears@azleg.gov or 602-926-3374.
These bills are scheduled for a floor vote and will then proceed to the governor's desk for her signature or veto. To express your views, contact your senator for bills being heard on the Senate floor and your representatives for bills being heard on the House floor. RTS will not work here. You can also contact the governor at 602-542-4331 or engage@az.gov.
Democracy
SB1052, sponsored by Wendy Rogers (R-7), would ban US citizens from registering to vote in Arizona if they have a parent who is a US citizen and who is registered to vote in Arizona, but they themselves have never lived in the US. Banning citizens from voting is clearly unconstitutional. Scheduled for House 3rd Read, Monday. OPPOSE.
Education
SB1091, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-14), would require that ballots in school district bond and budget override continuation elections state how much voters' taxes would drop if they refused to pass the continuations. This is propaganda designed to discourage voters from supporting overrides in the name of "transparency." Scheduled for House 3rd Read, Monday. OPPOSE.
Water
SB1116, sponsored by Tim Dunn (R-25), requires the director of ADWR to fast-track developers’ applications for alternative groundwater models, including a written response with rationale for any rejections. Developers are pushing for ways around laws that restrict construction in areas without adequate water supply. Scheduled for House 3rd Read, Monday. OPPOSE.
SB1518, sponsored by Tim Dunn (R-25), would allow irrigated grandfather rights in a subsequent active management area like Douglas or Willcox to be sold or transferred, leading to more groundwater pumping. Like many other rural basins, Douglas relies solely on groundwater. It pumps out 3 times as much water as it returns to the basin, and its prospects for finding additional water resources are slim. Increasing pumping in this area is a recipe for disaster. Scheduled for House 3rd Read, Monday. OPPOSE.
This past week, Gov. Hobbs exercised her power to protect Arizonans from the following harmful, CEBV-opposed legislation. The number of bills she’s vetoed this year now stands at 75.
Vetoes: Friday, May 2
SB1025 (Rogers, R-7) would have allowed the state treasurer and state retirement systems to invest up to 10% of their public monies in highly volatile, risky "virtual currency," gambling with our tax dollars and Arizonans’ life savings.
SB1256 (Hoffman, R-15) would have barred state agencies, boards and commissions from using diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in hiring practices and requiring employees to participate in such programs.
SB1280 (Finchem, R-1) would have made the “cast vote record” (a routine receipt of everything scanned by a voting machine) a public record to somehow detect fraudulent voting patterns, in just another example of conspiracy theorists’ endless, fruitless quest for election wrongdoing.
SB1375 (Finchem, R-1) would have forced county recorders to let anyone download voter registration rolls for free, enabling spam and harassment and allowing bad actors to easily generate fake purge lists.
SB1443 (Werner, R-4) would have given parents the explicit legal right to make mental health care decisions for their minor child, and created a mandatory minimum $2,500 judgment against schools and teachers who violate that "right." This would have put at risk every public school teacher and school counselor who supports the mental health of a minor student with unsupportive parents.
SB1534 (Kavanagh, R-3) would have allowed for more partisan ballot language by transferring the responsibility for preparing the summary of ballot initiatives and referenda from the Secretary of State to Legislative Council and removing the requirement for the Attorney General to approve the summaries. This is yet another effort to curtail the citizens' initiative and referendum process granted by our state constitution.
SB1694 (Farnsworth, R-10) would have banned Arizona universities from receiving state funds if they offer "courses on diversity, equity, and inclusion."
SB1705 (Gowan, R-19) would have created a civil fine of up to $5,000 for local government officials and administrative agency heads who violate state firearm preemption laws, and bans the use of public funds to defend or reimburse them, leaving cities and counties without the power to protect their citizens by enacting meaningful firearm regulation.
HB2203 (Griffin, R-19) would have increased the time frame for allowing acreage to be irrigated if it’s under the groundwater protection of an active management area, likely resulting in more destructive groundwater pumping.
HB2438 (Keshel, R-17) is a "blatantly anti-trans" bill that would have banned judges from issuing an order to amend a birth certificate, preventing the state from accurately reflecting the identities of transgender people on their birth certificates.
HB2572 (Griffin, R-19) would have weakened warnings about Arizona’s hundred-year requirement for water and allowed for adding more land to existing grandfathered irrigation rights, increasing pumping.
On the Governor’s Desk
Even if we expect these bills to receive a veto, it remains important to contact the governor’s office to request one. This demonstrates that her actions have strong public support. Learn how to write a veto letter by reading our guide here.
HB2017 (Keshel, R-17) would ban in-person early voting and vote centers in Arizona. Every voter would be assigned a polling precinct with fewer than 1,000 registered voters, and ballots of voters who go to the wrong place would be thrown out. Before Arizona's shift to its current voting center model, our elections were plagued by long lines and technology issues, and tens of thousands of people's votes were never counted for being cast at the wrong location. Voting experts have said the bill is "impossible"; the Arizona Association of Counties has repeatedly told legislators that counties will not be able to find enough voting locations or workers to comply. OPPOSE.
HB2154 (Keshel, R-17) would require a voter on the early voting list be booted to inactive status if a single election notice mailed to them is returned as undeliverable. Currently, officials must make an effort to contact the voter at the voter's new address and update that voter's address; this bill removes that requirement. The sponsor asserted in committee that she is pushing the bill because “two-thirds of Americans don’t trust our elections.” OPPOSE.
HB2440 (Keshel, R-17) would hobble the ability of Arizona's attorney general to hold county supervisors accountable for refusing to certify election results, though the courts have said that this is their job and refusing is felony election interference. The AG would not be able to prosecute or file civil charges against a county board of supervisors member who voted not to certify an election canvass if the vote is based on "a good faith belief" in election irregularities. Anyone who claimed they saw something amiss would be able to provide "expert testimony," and thus a legal basis for supervisors to balk. OPPOSE.
HB2651 (Montenegro, R-29) is a previously vetoed bill that would ban all electronic voting equipment beginning in 2029 unless it meets Department of Defense cybersecurity standards, all pieces of it are made in the US, and the auditor general is given copies of the source codes. This type of equipment does not exist, which means Arizona could end up forced to count millions of ballots by hand based on a baseless conspiracy theory. OPPOSE.
HB2824 (Rivero, R-27) would allow the legislature to arrest anyone who refuses to comply with a subpoena they issued — including another elected official — and physically haul them before a committee. This is in response to a partisan stunt orchestrated last year: some of the furthest-right members of the Legislature convened a hearing to call for the impeachment of Attorney General Kris Mayes for protecting Arizonans from legislative overreach. Mayes, along with all legislative Democrats, refused to attend the hearing, pointing out (rightly) that it was based on nothing more than the far right disagreeing with Mayes, and "makes a mockery of real legislative oversight." OPPOSE.
HB2880 (Alma Hernandez, D-20) would ban “encampments” on university and community college campuses. The bill’s broad language leaves a lot to interpretation. It’s important to think about who’s interpreting that language in light of our new national landscape of purposeful harm, chaos and confusion. This would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional intrusion on First Amendment rights at a time when our government is literally disappearing people for exercising their First Amendment right to protest genocide. School administrators can choose to impose restrictions on protests, but lawmakers shouldn’t target encampments just because they dislike someone’s point of view. That’s the very discrimination they purport to oppose, and in an environment where people are being abducted and deported without due process, it’s unconscionable. OPPOSE.
2025 Session Timeline
Monday, 6/30 Last day to pass a constitutionally mandated state budget
Flag this handy list of contact info, committee chairs and assignments:
Bookmark CEBV’s Linktree. Want other ways to take action or stay informed? Looking for our social media? It’s all on our Linktree.