On Monday, the Arizona Senate passed HB2617 to require county recorders to cancel voter registrations for individuals who are proven to not be qualified electors, such as those who aren’t U.S. citizens and those who have a driver’s license or other non-operating license in another state. The bill passed along party lines, 16-13. Since HB2617 was amended in the Senate, it will be reviewed by the House before it’s passed on to Governor Doug Ducey.
In further detail, HB2617 will require the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) every month to submit information regarding who’s been issued a driver’s license or non-operating license in another state to the secretary of state. Then within 10 days, the secretary of state will also be required to furnish county recorders with a list of registered voters for their county that were issued a driver’s license or a non-operating ID license in another state.
Additionally, HB2617 requires the county recorder to compare their voter registration database to the Social Security Administration database on a monthly basis. In the event an individual doesn’t provide satisfactory proof of citizenship, county recorders must compare their file to the Electronic Verification of Vital Events System.
Furthermore, the secretary of state will be required to report the number of deaths and number of voter registration cancellation notices issued to county recorders to the state legislature on a quarterly basis. Jury commissioners and managers must also forward information about individuals who indicate they’re not a U.S. citizen or reside outside of the county to the secretary of state and county recorder.
Prior to canceling the voter registration of the person in question, county recorders must submit notice to the individual and give them 90 days to provide evidence that they’re qualified to vote in Arizona. If the person doesn’t respond with satisfactory evidence within 90 days, each individual case may be referred to the county attorney or attorney general for further investigation.
Progress Arizona, a progressive activist nonprofit, argued that the legislation would “harm vulnerable communities,” calling it an “unnecessary barrier to vote.”
The GOP-led #AZLEG will not stop attacking our right to vote until they implement their bills that would harm vulnerable communities in Arizona. Call your state Senator and ask them to VOTE NO on #HB2238 and #HB2617! https://t.co/BK67Crv13p
House Republicans insisted that the legislation, sponsored by State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale) would ensure that those who didn’t belong on the voter rolls would be purged.
On Monday, Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill requiring superior court clerks to submit monthly records of felony convictions to the secretary of state for purposes of purging the voter rolls.
State Senator Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa) introduced the bill, SB1477. The law provides additional identifying information for felons, including their date of birth and parents’ names.
“Each month the clerk of the superior court shall transmit to the secretary of state without charge a record of every felony conviction in that county within the preceding month. This record shall include only the name of the person convicted and the person’s date of birth, Social Security number, if available, usual legal residence and, if available, father’s name or mother’s maiden name. The secretary of state shall use the record for the sole purpose of canceling the names of convicted felons from the statewide voter registration database and shall notify the appropriate county recorder, and that county recorder shall cancel the voter registration of the convicted felon.”
The law was reportedly prompted by an ABC15 investigation into state law last November exposing a loophole allowing felons to register to vote illegally. Prior to Townsend’s bill, there wasn’t a system for election officials to discern which felons remained ineligible to vote or had their voting rights restored.
Jen Marson, Arizona Association of Counties Executive Director, expressed support for the legislation during hearings on the bill earlier this year.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Last Friday, Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) joined a letter asking Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky what legal authority her agency had to purchase Americans’ location data.
The CDC reportedly shelled out $420,000 for one year of phone data from at least 20 million Americans’ phones. The CDC’s transaction and its purposes were exposed through documents obtained by VICE through open records requests.
The CDC documents outlined plans to use the data to not only track COVID-19 curfew and quarantine compliance but visits to places of worship, K-12 schools, pharmacies, neighbors, parks, gyms, weight management companies, grocery stores; as well as the movements of Navajo Nation peoples, K-12 bus route users, and college students, to name a few. According to the documents, the CDC purchased the geotracking data from the controversial data broker SafeGraph. In doing so, the CDC relied on the same type of data currently being scrutinized for its use to track potential ballot harvesters, or “mules,” as highlighted in the controversial documentary “2000 Mules.”
Lesko joined 18 other legislators led by Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) to demand answers from the CDC. They expressed concern over the legality of the CDC surveilling Americans, citing a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that determined that mobile location information fell within a reasonable expectation of privacy.
“This violates the rights of Americans!” tweeted Lesko.
The congressman asked the CDC to explain what legal authority they had to acquire location data (especially concerning places of worship and its relation to the First Amendment), whether they obtained legal advice in order to do so, and whether they informed Congress of their intent to do so; if they’d requested Congress within the last five years to enact legislation specifically authorizing the purchase or acquisition of location data; what specific appropriation line item funded the purchase of the location data, and if they conducted an internal review to ascertain the compliance of their purchase; what form they purchased the data and if it included any personally identifiable information or it was in an aggregate, anonymous form; whether the data had been deleted or was being repurposed for other uses; what conclusions, analyses, or other methods were the results of their data acquisition; whether this was the only instance of them purchasing location data; who decided to purchase the data; and who has access to the data.
This wasn’t the first time that the CDC relied on SafeGraph. Throughout the 2020, they relied on SafeGraph information to conduct their reports on Americans’ compliance with stay-at-home orders. According to the documents obtained by Vice, the CDC continued relying on SafeGraph’s public data until the company no longer provided their data for free last March.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs declared it was “ridiculous” that the border crisis was a core issue for the governor’s race. Hobbs made the remarks during an interview with the Arizona Republic.
Hobbs asserted that it wouldn’t matter how she talked about the border because Republicans would only twist her words. It is unclear whether her observation came from recent controversy over her apparent reversal on the Biden administration’s plan to rescind Title 42.
“It’s ridiculous that we are talking about this as a core issue in the governor’s race,” said Hobbs. “I could stand here and say ‘Build the wall,’ and they’re gonna call me open borders. It doesn’t really matter what I say for the Republicans, they’re going to just misconstrue everything.”
Hobbs’ latest statement appears to be a pivot from her remarks issued last October, when she insisted that alleviating border crisis pressures would be one of her primary focuses as governor.
“The situation at our border puts pressure on all our communities. We have to reduce illegal border crossings in a way that promotes security and safety for everyone and most efficiently uses taxpayers’ dollars,” said Hobbs. “Arizonans need a leader who is learning from the officials who are on the front lines and understand this important issue best. I’m committed to listening, learning, and working on the ground to ensure our borders are secure.”
The situation at our border puts pressure on all our communities. We have to reduce illegal border crossings in a way that promotes security and safety for everyone and most efficiently uses taxpayers’ dollars.
Hobbs also changed her perspective on the revocation of Title 42 recently. Within one month, Hobbs shifted her public message from supporting Title 42’s immediate end because it “isn’t working” to declaring that doing so would be a “rash decision” that would result in a “disaster.”
Hobbs hasn’t been the only Democratic candidate for a state-level office to dismiss border concerns this week. Democratic congressional candidate and former state senator Kirsten Engel went one step further, arguing that the current state of the border doesn’t constitute a crisis.
Engel issued that assessment during a Wednesday night debate hosted on “Arizona Horizon” by PBS. Engel’s Democratic opponent, State Representative Daniel Hernández Jr. (D-Tucson), contended with her denial of the border crisis.
Hobbs and Engel represent a greater division within their party on the significance and reality of the border crisis. Hobbs’ opponents, Aaron Lieberman and Marco Lopez, have each offered their own takes. Lieberman has said he will defer to federal actors to work out the border crisis.
Arizona Governor Candidate Lieberman Talks Higher Education, Paying Teachers, Ag and Border in Yuma https://t.co/9CSKzi9EcB
Lopez has insisted that rhetoric painting the border situation as dangerous was misleading.
“There is no invasion,” said Lopez.
Don't be fooled by the GOP rhetoric and scare tactics…this is what the day to day at the border actually looks like: hardworking people looking for opportunity, not to mention contributing $16 billion and 200,000 jobs to our trade economy. pic.twitter.com/JaqL29vp0N
Following a controversial vote against a bill addressing the baby formula shortage, Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) claimed that Congress’ plan would exacerbate the crisis. Not only that: Biggs ventured that the legislation, HR7791 or the “Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022,” would put the nation in worse shape amid the burgeoning inflation crisis.
Biggs explained that the bill would only bloat the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) at the expense of families. Only families between 100 and 185 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines qualify for WIC.
“Throwing tens of millions of dollars at the FDA — an agency arguably responsible for facilitating this crisis — is not a viable solution. Empowering the Secretary of the USDA so that they can waive administrative requirements for the WIC program is ineffective and artificial,” wrote Biggs. “This legislation would make baby formula shortages worse for most Americans. It will allow WIC to utilize a far greater portion of the baby formula market, crowding out many hard-working American families. The better solutions are to distribute formula currently in the hands of federal agencies and reduce regulatory barriers that would allow for the expansion of domestic formula production.”
THREAD re: Baby Formula Vote.
It is imperative to find solutions to address Biden’s baby formula crisis.
But what my congressional colleagues have proposed tonight does not address the core issues of this crisis.
HR7791 was one of two bills considered by Congress to address the baby formula crisis; it was passed Thursday in the Senate following passage in the House on Wednesday. It does not produce more formula, and it doesn’t help all families. Rather, it enables the FDA to scale back on its traditional regulatory powers to fast-track approvals and open up more options within WIC — not families outside the program. It was introduced by Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-CT-05) on Tuesday.
The other bill, HR7790 or the “Infant Formula Supplemental Appropriations Act,” passed the House on Wednesday largely along party lines, 231-192, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats to pass the bill. HR7790 would allocate $28 million to the FDA to increase staffing, therefore increasing the speed by which it inspects baby formula prior to being sold, and to commence research on best practices to prevent future shortages.
Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04) also voted against the HR7790, joined by Lauren Boebert (R-CO-03), Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01), Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01), Chip Roy (R-TX-21), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14), Clay Higgins (R-LA-), and Thomas Massie (R-KY-).
The other legislators offered similar rationale for voting against the bill.
Boebert blamed the shortage on the FDA for closing the Abbott plant.
The FDA caused the baby formula shortage by unfairly closing the Abbott plant based on charges proven untrue.
Now, Pelosi wants to give the FDA a $28 million raise!
Democrats should be ashamed for pushing messaging bills & not real solutions. End the games and feed the babies!
Gaetz noted that the legislation was just another emergency authority to grow government.
“All considered, government-empowered swings to markets typically create more problems than they solve,” wrote Gaetz.
H.R. 7791 would make baby formula shortages worse for most Americans. It will allow WIC to utilize a far greater portion of the baby formula market, crowding out many hard-working American families. (1/2)
Gohmert proposed a different plan altogether: remove the FDA from the equation entirely. He rebutted claims that the Abbott plant was shut down over contamination concerns, noting that the FDA found no proof to justify their contamination claims and didn’t employ a plan to cover potential shortages once they forced the plant’s shutdown.
“There was no easing of restrictions by the FDA, no reopening plan from the FDA and not even an apparent awareness of the consequences of their actions until there was a critical shortage and American mothers were unable to feed their babies,” wrote Gohmert. “The FDA got us into this mess and they cannot get us out of it.”
1/6 Giving #FDA millions won't produce one ounce of #babyformula. Getting the FDA out of the way would accomplish that new production. The shutdown and subsequent investigation of the Abbott facility by the Biden FDA found no deadly bacteria in products. #BidenBabyFormulaCrisis
President Joe Biden announced earlier this week that he was invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA) and launching a program, Operation Fly Formula, to curb the baby formula shortage. The DPA will require suppliers to prioritize baby formula producers in their distribution above other customers. The program directs the Defense Department to secure baby formula overseas.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
