Transit Tax Increase Earned a Well-Deserved Veto

Transit Tax Increase Earned a Well-Deserved Veto

By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |

Governor Ducey made the right decision vetoing HB2685, the Maricopa County transportation sales tax increase that was forced through the House and Senate during the final days of the legislative session.

But the reality is, it never should have gotten to his desk.

HB 2685 typified everything that is broken at the Capitol these days: a swampy political culture built around cronyism and backroom deals, legislative leadership pushing major policy through despite overwhelming opposition from their own caucus, and a complete breakdown in statesmanship, evident by the fact that most Republican lawmakers that supported the bill never actually read it or the MAG transportation plan that underpinned the legislation

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Lawsuits Against HB2492 Are Attacking a Commonsense Bill Backed by the Constitution

Lawsuits Against HB2492 Are Attacking a Commonsense Bill Backed by the Constitution

By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |

Last week, the Biden Administration officially filed a lawsuit against Arizona over HB2492, which bolsters safeguards to our voter registration process to require proof of citizenship ensuring only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections.

To many, it sounds absurd. Not HB2492, but the revelation that in Arizona, and in every state in the country, people are registering to vote and voting without ever providing proof of citizenship.

How many people are we talking about? In 2020, there were roughly 11,600 individuals in Arizona who voted in federal elections without ever having provide proof of citizenship. That’s up from under 2,000 just two years prior in the 2018 midterms. These numbers are alarming, but the exponential growth from just one election to the next is even more shocking.

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A Proposed Ballot Measure That Targets Donor Privacy Is Another Attack on Free Speech

A Proposed Ballot Measure That Targets Donor Privacy Is Another Attack on Free Speech

By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |

Every American should be free to peacefully support causes they believe in without being harassed or intimidated.

Someone should tell that to Terry Goddard. For years, the former Attorney General of Arizona has been leading a campaign to “Stop Dark Money” in our state. Although the name sounds nefarious, it’s nothing more than clever messaging aimed to scare the average person.

But now Goddard’s new donor harassment initiative is set to file signatures in the coming days. And if it makes it onto the ballot and becomes law, it would be a devastating blow to donor privacy and free speech.

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Arizona’s State Budget Proves That MAG’s Proposed $70 Billion ‘Momentum’ Plan Is a Complete Failure

Arizona’s State Budget Proves That MAG’s Proposed $70 Billion ‘Momentum’ Plan Is a Complete Failure

By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |

State taxpayers should not be bailing out a broken Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) plan. But that’s exactly what lawmakers are doing in the recently enacted Arizona state budget. That’s right. Your elected leaders just passed a budget that includes hundreds of millions of dollars for road projects—all being paid for with your tax dollars. (You can see for yourself on pages 9-11 right here.)

At first glance, that probably doesn’t seem like a big deal. After all, it makes sense for tax dollars to go toward necessary road projects. But the problem is that these road projects are supposed to be paid for by the Maricopa County Prop 400 regional plan that was assembled by MAG…

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California Unions Are Pushing a Debt Cancellation Initiative in Arizona That Would Make Bernie Sanders Proud

California Unions Are Pushing a Debt Cancellation Initiative in Arizona That Would Make Bernie Sanders Proud

By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |

“Let’s just make everything free!” That might as well be the Left’s motto at this point as they clearly don’t understand how a good economy works. While the past 18 months under President Biden is proof enough of that, they’re not done yet. The Left is fully committed to its plan to build back even broker. And now, they’re targeting conservative states like Arizona to do so.

The latest initiative being pushed in our state comes from California unions. (Because apparently no one knows a good economy like a California union.) It’s called the “Predatory Debt Collection Practices Act,” which sounds harmless enough. After all, who doesn’t want to stick it to predatory debt collectors? But just as you would expect from a California initiative being pushed here in Arizona, it’s not only anti-creditor, it’s anti-business. And it would make Bernie Sanders proud…

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