by Daniel Stefanski | May 19, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s recently passed budget continues to divide Democrats as they bemoan Governor Katie Hobbs’ failure to negotiate more progressive additions.
Before the new budget was approved by the Arizona Legislature and signed into law, Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes tweeted, “The present form of the budget proposal fails to fulfill the requirements we’ve conveyed to the Governor and the Legislature. This is because relying on one-time funds cannot address our urgent need for a larger number of SOS staff to boost IT security and offer technical support to the counties. As elections are critical infrastructure, the current budget proposal neglects the significance of maintaining the security and quality of our elections over time.”
After the budget was signed by Governor Hobbs, a Republican lawmaker alleged more discontentment from Fontes. Freshman Representative Austin Smith wrote, “During a House Elections Committee meeting this year @Adrian_Fontes came to testify for the ballot images bill to @electjacqparker, @realAlexKolodin, @azjustinheap, @RJ4arizonaand me. Fontes was storming through the State House yesterday cussing because he didn’t get what he wanted in the state budget for his left-wing pet projects. You CAN question ANYTHING in this country including elections. Only actual fascists and democracy frauds like Adrian Fontes hate it. Pound sand, @Adrian_Fontes.”
A few other individuals added some insight to this revelation by Smith, including Representative Jacqueline Parker, who stated: “Maybe if he stopped calling us fascists & working against us, & did his job better we would care about funding his department more… if I was in charge, A LOT more government agencies would have received much less funding. I thought he was treated too generously, considering…”
Representative Justin Heap said, “Uh oh. SofS Adrian Fontes is fuming about the Budget! He just discovered that the House Elections Committee made sure we stripped his control over millions of HAVA dollars he planned to use to “fortify” our elections. Tough break, Man. Seeya at the Joint Oversight Committee!”
Jen Wright, a former top attorney in Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s administration, tweeted, “Why would Sec. Fontes storm thru the AZ State House upset about the budget? Maybe because @realAlexKolodin & the @AZHouseGOP, & @AZSenateGOP refused to give him unfettered access to the MILLIONS in HAVA money that he had requested? #ElectionIntegrityHeroes #ThankALegislator”
Another freshman representative, Alexander Kolodin, responded to Wright’s post, saying, “Oh Gina Swaboda and I went through his budget MOST carefully. A little legislative oversight never hurt, right?”
Senator Wendy Rogers also chimed in to praise Kolodin for his contributions to the budget: “@repalexkolodin applies THE finest-toothed comb of anybody I know on planet earth… seriously. Picayune. Wonkish. But freakin’ sharp. I’m glad he’s on our side, is all I can say.”
Fontes’ issues with the budget follow the high-profile pushback from Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes, which occurred before the budget was passed and signed into law. Mayes previously sent a letter to Hobbs and members of the Legislature, writing, “The Legislature and Governor need to go back to work and produce a budget that is in the best interest of all Arizonans. We need a budget that funds essential state services that protect the well-being and safety of all Arizonans. I will continue to fight, especially for our most vulnerable residents, as well as the dedicated, hard-working public servants in the Attorney General’s Office.”
Mayes also threatened legal action if the Legislature swept “the authority of the Attorney General to direct funds received through consent judgments against several pharmaceutical companies for their roles in the opioid crisis.” Republican Representative David Livingston fired back against those statements, tweeting, “Attorney General Mayes should learn the facts first, and accurately convey those facts in committee hearings, before making demands and threats to sue the Legislature and the Governor over the budget.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 19, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Tucson voters delivered a resounding defeat to Mayor Regina Romero and her support of Proposition 412.
On Tuesday, results were released for the special election, showing Prop 412 receiving 28,084 (44.7%) votes in favor versus 34,712 (55.3%) votes in opposition. Voter turnout for the City of Tucson’s contest hovered around 21.69%.
Prop 412 would have granted “a franchise to Tucson Electric Power (TEP) Company for the purpose of providing electric transmission and distribution services within the City of Tucson for which the City of Tucson will receive a franchise fee and other consideration.” The “other consideration” would have come, in part, in the form of a “Community Resilience Fee” to fund Tucson’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, which was an effort to achieve “carbon neutrality for City operations by 2030.”
Mayor Romero, who had been one of the strongest proponents of Prop 412, released a statement after the results confirmed the worst: “TEP and the City put together a franchise agreement that tried to be responsive to the different needs our community was asking for, like undergrounding, investing in climate resiliency and creating EV infrastructure in public rights of way. I respect the voters’ decision not to approve.”
Arizona Corporation Commissioner Kevin Thompson, one of Arizona’s few Republican statewide officeholders at the moment, reacted to the news from southern Arizona, telling AZ Free News, “Tucson voters rightfully demonstrated they understood the ramifications of mixing political pet projects under the guise of essential utility contract service requirements. This is a good outcome for ratepayers and a step towards returning these important decisions to the Corporation Commission where they belong.”
Merissa Hamilton, a grassroots leader in Arizona, tweeted her analysis of the Tucson election result, writing, “This vote is significant because it was the Public’s chance to make their voice heard on Romero’s tyrannical climate action agenda.”
One of the main issues that caused contention over this proposal was the insertion of the community resilience fee of 0.75% of all applicable revenues of TEP – in addition to the 2.25% Franchise Fee. This new fee would have been collected and disbursed for “funding costs associated with the underground installation of new TEP Facilities or conversion to underground of existing TEP facilities currently installed overhead; and projects that support the City’s implementation of the City’s approved Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.” This fee picked up opposition from both sides of the political aisle.
The Pima County Republican Party had fiercely lobbied against Prop 412 and cheered on its defeat. In a Facebook post, the Party stated, “WE DID IT!! Thank you to our LD’s and our incredible volunteers. CONGRATULATIONS to every volunteer and every candidate who helped us fight this Marxist proposal.”
The community resilience charge hasn’t been the only fee that TEP is attempting to pass along to its Southern Arizona consumers. Earlier last year, TEP submitted an application to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), proposing a rate increase of 11.8% to take effect no later than September 1, 2023. TEP informed the Commission that “the new rates are intended to result in an increase in retail revenues of approximately $136 million.” According to reports, TEP customers’ bills would increase more than $14 each month should the ACC sign off on the request.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 18, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Another election integrity bill has cleared the Arizona Legislature and is awaiting final action from Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs.
On Monday, HB 2560, sponsored by Speaker Ben Toma, passed out of the Arizona House of Representatives with a party-line 31-27 vote (with one Democrat not voting and one vacant seat). The proposal “directs the County Recorder to transmit to the Secretary of State to post on a secure website: a list of all registered voters before an election, a list of all persons who voted in the election, the unaltered images of ballots used to tabulate election results and the cast vote record in a sortable format.” The Senate then substituted SB 1324 with the House version Monday, giving the legislation the green light, 19-9 (with two Democrats not voting).
Earlier in the session, the bill had been approved by the House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee along partisan lines (6-4).
The bill had previously garnered the support of Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer. On April 7, as he was about to mark his 100th day in office, Fontes’ office released a statement on the legislative proposal, writing: “Additionally, Secretary Fontes has been a strong proponent of SB 1324, a bipartisan piece of legislation concerning ballot imaging sponsored by former Secretary of State and current State Senator, Ken Bennett. An identical bill was introduced in the House as HB 2560. The bill, which is similar to legislation passed in other states such as Colorado, would allow people to compare ballot images to a cast vote record and would help restore confidence for some voters in our elections.”
Richer had issued a statement earlier in the year on February 13, saying, “Elections work when there is openness and transparency. SB 1324 does that by creating a system where each county recorder can inform voters before and after every election about who is eligible to vote while protecting voter confidentiality. All three – the list of eligible voters, the list of who voted, and the cast vote record – will be available to anyone who wants them. SB 1324 and Speaker Ben Toma’s legislation, HB 2560, contain similar language and will further strengthen our elections by enshrining the kind of transparency that can build public trust in our elections.”
After the bill received the go-ahead from the Senate on Monday, Senator Wendy Rogers tweeted, “Great effort to restore accountability in our elections.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 17, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Legislation to increase Americans’ First Amendment rights at Arizona colleges and universities appears to be obtaining more bipartisan appeal as it moves towards the Governor’s Office.
On Monday, the Arizona House of Representatives passed SB 1013, which deals with free speech zones on state universities and colleges. The proposal, sponsored by Senator John Kavanaugh, “allows a person to engage in expressive activity in any area on a public university or community college campus where they are lawfully present, and modifies the state aid amounts from a community college district that exceeds its expenditure limitation in FY’s 2024 and 2025.” SB 1013 passed 57-1 (with one Democrat not voting and one seat vacant).
Kavanaugh’s bill first passed the Arizona Senate on February 28 with a 16-14 vote along party lines – after clearing the Education Committee with a 5-2 tally. When the legislation was transmitted to the House, it was assigned to the Education Committee as well, where it received a unanimous 8-0 approval (with two Democrats voting ‘present’).
The bill was amended twice – once in the Senate and another time in the House. The first amendment came from Senator Kavanaugh, specifying “that the authorization for a person to engage in expressive activity on a public university or community college campus in any area where the person is lawfully present does not prohibit a university or community college from regulating economic activity on the campus.” The House amendment, sponsored by Representative David Livingston, set “penalties for a community college district that exceeds its expenditure limitation;” and also limited “the maximum penalty that can be withheld from a provisional community college district established before December 31, 2015, located in a county with a population less than 300,000, which exceeds its expenditure limitation.”
Days after his bill passed the Arizona Senate, Kavanaugh recorded a video to explain his reasoning for introducing the legislation, saying, “If you’re on a college campus, and you have a legal right to be where you’re at – and you’re not blocking people and you’re not disrupting anything, then you can do and say whatever you want that’s legal. We’re going to restore the First Amendment to our universities. It’s long overdue.”
Since the House amended the Senate’s version of SB 1013, the Senate will have to concur with the changes in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, the bill was sent back to the Senate to await further action.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 16, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
As the border crisis continues to worsen after the end of Title 42, Arizona House Republicans are crying out for action and assistance.
Last week, Arizona House Republicans used the Title 42 news from the border to highlight the need for more federal and state efforts to enforce the nation’s laws and defend innocent American families and communities. The House Republican Majority issued a statement demanding that “federal leaders end the border crisis and protect states.” Then five Representatives sent a letter to Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, “urging her to take immediate action and activate all available state resources to keep communities safe from the dangerous and unprecedented threats presented by an unsecure southern border.”
In the statement to the federal government, the House Majority leaders shared what Arizona had enacted to secure the border over the past three fiscal years:
“In 2021, House Republicans passed a Border Security Fund, which was used to help prevent human trafficking and illegal entry into the country, to solidify infrastructure, aid local prosecution efforts, and other necessary activities to protect Arizona citizens.
Last year we put over $500 million into the fund and allocated over $209 million for a variety of state and local border enforcement activities. About $240 million remains in the fund, which the state can use to counteract the federal government’s negligence on the border and the harm it has in our communities.
In the new state budget passed this week, we included:
– Maintaining a $30 million program that provides additional support to local law enforcement facing border-related crimes. (Border Drug and Interdiction Fund; Local Border Support – formerly known as the Border Strike Force)
– Adding $10 million to human trafficking prevention efforts.
– Adding $3 million for additional fentanyl prosecution efforts.”
In the letter to Governor Hobbs, the state representatives (Gail Griffin, Tim Dunn, Lupe Diaz, Michael Carbone, and Michele Peña) referenced former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s legal opinion on “the federal government’s failure to uphold its duty to defend the States from invasion;” and a May 2022 Arizona House Legislative Proclamation, declaring that “an uncontrolled border is a security and humanitarian crisis,” and that “the smuggling of illegal drugs, weapons, and human beings poses a direct threat to our communities and innocent Americans.”
The five lawmakers wrote that “the State of Emergency in Arizona’s border counties that former Governor Ducey declared on April 20, 2021, is still in effect and continues as long as these conditions exist. And over $240 million remains in the Border Security Fund, which the Legislature established to prevent illegal entry into the country, solidify infrastructure, and combat other harms at the border.” They requested the governor “take immediate action and activate all available state resources to keep our communities safe from these dangerous and unprecedented threats.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
