by Matthew Holloway | Apr 1, 2025 | Economy, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona State Senator JD Mesnard (R-LD13) is looking to reduce the size of government and the state income tax burden on Arizonans with dual bills: SB1318 and SCR1014. Both bills, which are moving through the House after passing the Senate in February, would require the Arizona Department of Revenue (ADOR) to reduce the individual income tax rate by 50% of the structural surplus for each Taxable Year (TY). If SB1318 passes the legisalture and is vetoed by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, SCR104 would put the issue on the Arizona ballot.
Both bills would require the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) to determine the surplus for each Fiscal Year (FY), which would then be used to pro-actively reduce the income tax rate by 50% of the surplus amount, passing the tax savings onto the taxpayer more immediately than the issuance of a tax dividend.
Mesnard has a history of pursuing tax cuts. He was one of the lawmakers responsible for the historic 2021 tax reform that brought a flat income tax rate of 2.5% to individual taxpayers in Arizona. He also authored SB1783 the same year which lowered taxes on small businesses.
As reported by the AZ Capitol Times, Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs expressed her opposition to SB1318, however should she veto it, the legislature would send SCR1014 to the Secretary of State, who would submit this proposition to the voters at the next election. Comparing the bill to the 1992 ‘TABOR’ or the Taxpayers Bill of Rights instituted by Colorado, Hobbs said, “I’m not interested in tying our hands like that. No. Not like TABOR. No. That’s not tax relief. That is tying the hands of future administrations.”
During hearings in February, Mesnard explained, “This is a proposal to essentially strike a balance. When you have a surplus, let’s split it between giving money to taxpayers and the other half allocating towards whatever you want.”
Democrat Sen. Brian Fernandez described the bill as an effort to “handcuff us so we can’t make decisions during a budget (negotiation).”
Mesnard responded, “So, ‘handcuff’; is an interesting choice of words. We can put parameters on ourselves. The voters put parameters on increasing taxes back in the 90s and also, more recently, when they’re on the ballot.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Apr 1, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Democrat Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, daughter of late-Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07) has announced that she will resign from her County Office effective April 4th and enter the primary race for her father’s seat. Declining to run for the 7th District seat herself, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero will chair Grijalva’s campaign.
In a press release issued Monday, the Pima County Supervisor indicated that her decision largely comes from a desire to oppose the agenda of President Donald Trump, maligning X owner Elon Musk in his capacity as a special government employee as leading a “gang of billionaires […] destroying our nation.”
Grijalva said in her full statement:
“I am running for Congress because Southern Arizona deserves bold leadership that will fight for working families and stand up to Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their gang of billionaires are destroying our nation. They’re destroying our schools. They’re attacking our most sacred rights. They’re poisoning our environment. But together, we will stop them. This fight starts right here, right now, in southern Arizona.
“I’ve spent my life as an advocate, fighting for the brighter future we all deserve – from 20 years on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board where I strengthened public education for all children, to the Pima County Board of Supervisors where I spearheaded investments in affordable housing and childcare, and protected our beautiful Sonoran desert. In Congress, I will work to create opportunities to help all our families achieve their American Dream – no matter who you are, where you come from, or where you live.”
Speaking with AZ Luminaria, Grijalva said, “We’re not living in normal times,” and accused the Trump administration of “dismantling our entire democracy.” The outlet reported that Grijalva will be launching a listening tour later this week with a stop in Yuma and a focus on talking “to people who have lived experience that I don’t have.”
As noted by the outlet, Grijalva will face off in the Democratic primary against former AZ State Representative Daniel Hernandez, in addition to a dozen other candidates.
Ten Republicans have reportedly filed statements of interest in the Congressional seat with Daniel Butierez, Rep. Grijalva’s 2024 opponent considered the leading GOP Primary contender. According to The Cook Political Report, District 7 is well-established as Democrat held with a rating of D+15. The late Congressman Grijalva was elected to the House of Representatives in 2003 and held his seat for over twenty years despite redistricting in 2013. In the 2024 election, Grijalva defeated Butierez by a 26.8% margin.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Mar 31, 2025 | Economy, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona’s Republican lawmakers are looking to take on the cost of groceries by sending a referendum to the voters that would cap the transaction privilege taxes in municipalities on the sale of food items for home consumption at 2 percent.
The effort has been led by Republican State Representative Leo Biasiucci. It initially began as an outright ban, which proved to be a non-starter with State House Democrats and Governor Katie Hobbs. A bill to accomplish this was already dead on the table with the prospect of a veto from Hobbs, but this has been sidestepped through a compromise, HCR 2021.
“These are things that families need to survive,” Biasiucci told AZ Capitol Times. “This is the right thing to do. The fact that we are taxing people on eggs and milk and bread is insane.”
In a post to X Biasiucci wrote, “My bill to remove taxes from all essential food items like milk, eggs, butter, vegetables, fruit, baby food, beef and chicken passed committee 4-2. My bill also removes taxes from diapers. Taxing our food is regressive and it needs to end.”
A previous version of the measure passed both chambers of the legislature in 2023 only to suffer a prompt veto from Hobbs after the leaders of several municipalities claimed city services, including police and fire departments, would need to be reduced without tax revenue from food sales. In her veto letter, Hobbs claimed, “It’s clear that this bill doesn’t actually eliminate costs for our residents. It simply moves those costs around.”
Rep. Neal Carter, a Republican from San Tan Valley told the Times that there have been significant increases in municipal sales tax revenue from online sales after the SCOTUS ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair. The outlet reported that from 2019-2024, cities and towns have enjoyed a 60% increase in sales tax revenue, but city expenses have also increased in that time period as well, leaving the local governments reticent to cut spending.
“This is a terribly regressive tax. This is the most regressive tax I could possibly dream up,” Carter told the outlet. “If I was going to dream up a regressive tax, I would tax the one thing that you literally have to have to live. You don’t even, in a sense, have to have a home to live, but you have to have food.”
“I don’t know a single person in Arizona, a voter or a constituent, who’s going to say, ‘Yes, continue to tax me on these things that I have to put on the table for my family,’” Biasiucci told his colleagues. “At a time when inflation is through the roof, these taxes are going higher. You’re paying more.”
Under the compromise passed in the House, a city or town with a tax rate below 2% could elect to increase it up to the limit with voter approval. However, with approximately 70 of the 91 municipalities charging taxes on groceries ranging from 1.5% to 4%, some municipalities would be required to reduce their taxes and either reduce spending or increase taxes in other areas such as property tax.
After passing the House with limited Democrat votes and near total Republican support, the resolution was read in the Senate on March 10th and 11th and is pending review by both caucuses and a final vote.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Mar 30, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes announced in a social media post on Wednesday that he will not be running to replace the late Democrat Congressman Raúl Grijalva in the 7th Congressional District. Instead Fontes will seek to defend his seat as Arizona’s top election official in the 2026 mid-term election.
In his remarks, posted to X, Fontes referred to a “rising tide of fascism sweeping this nation,” as his primary motivation for the decision. Fontes cited President Donald Trump’s Executive Order “Preserving And Protecting The Integrity Of American Elections,” and claimed that through this action the “president is laying the groundwork to cancel elections in 2026.”
Fontes gave no explanation or description of how requiring voter identification, preventing non-citizens from voting, cooperation between the state and federal governments to maintain voter roll integrity, requiring states only count ballots received on or by election day, and improving the security of voting systems could possibly accomplish this end.
Fontes wrote:
“I have considered the pros and cons of running for congress. It is clear to me that our party must fight harder and stand up to the rising tide of fascism sweeping this nation.
“With this week’s executive order from the Trump Administration, I firmly believe the president is laying the groundwork to cancel elections in 2026.
“After careful thought and reflection, I have decided that for family, for country, and for democracy, I will continue to defend America as Arizona’s secretary of state.”
As reported by KJZZ, Fontes claimed that the Executive Order, “is in my view an attempt to erode confidence so much that he [Trump] will be able to declare some kind of emergency or something and potentially just cancel the elections in 2026. I don’t think that is beyond what this administration is capable of.”
In a subsequent interview with Scripps, Fontes proceeded to double-down, telling Elizabeth Landers that were DOGE to come for any of Arizona’s voter rolls or information, as required under the Executive Order, he “would tell them to go to hell.”
He also announced that a formal campaign announcement for Secretary of State will be forthcoming.
Several commenters to Fontes’ post on X disagreed with his characterization of his decision, instead positing that the late-Rep. Grijalva’s daughter Adelita Grijalva is the likely frontrunner.
Former Arizona State Representative Daniel Hernandez Jr. has already announced his candidacy for the seat as well with at least seven statements of interest filed for the race so far.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Mar 29, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
A rash of copper theft has exploded over the Phoenix metro area with Lumen Technologies, the parent company of CenturyLink, observing a 76% year-over-year spike. The increase in theft has been connected with both small-time criminals and drug addicts, as well as organized criminal enterprises targeting critical communications infrastructure.
In an emailed statement, Lumen Technologies’ Sr. Media Relations Manager Rachael Adair described the level of damage occurring as “rivaling natural disasters.” She warned that “these thefts can disrupt essential services, affecting access to online health and emergency services, and endangering people with medical devices. Manholes containing gas and power lines pose severe risks if tampered with.”
In an interview with AZ Free News, CenturyLink’s Head of Corporate Security Dan Chason, a 33-year law enforcement veteran, explained: “The Phoenix area of Arizona is in the top five of total losses when we rank by state. They’re in the top five as far as the amount of losses, and those losses have increased 76%.”
The losses Chason referred to include copper thefts, fiber cuts, and any equipment losses that Lumen sustains in the Arizona market. As previously reported by AZ Free News, the Tucson area was hit by a wave of copper thefts in late 2024 that left whole neighborhoods literally in the dark with street lights and traffic signals stripped.
When asked why the spike CenturyLink has seen is happening in Phoenix, Chason was answered, “The crimes now seem to be more located in the metro area of Phoenix. And there’s a reason. If I showed you a map, and I can show you a map. There’s 17 resellers in a 20 block area. Some of these are fly by night. Some of them are legit. But for the most part, they all have to abide by the law and the law is you have to have an identification and a photo ID, and you have to be the one who possesses the copper.”
The former police officer tied the phenomenon directly to drug abuse adding, “But what happens is these organized, I call them gangs, but these organized groups. They send a girlfriend, a cousin, or somebody in there to sell the copper so their name doesn’t appear on the log, yet they’re logging in. We had one situation in another state where we had a reseller that was trading crack cocaine for wire. So that tells you the type of people we’re dealing with. You got people who are looking for that next fix. They are the ones predominantly doing it. They’re looking for that next fix, and if they can go in that pedestal and make 60 bucks, they’re tickled. And that’s how they support their habit.”
He also noted Arizona’s location on the border with Mexico as a potential vector for resellers to offload the stolen copper. “You have organized groups who actually make their living doing this. The problem with Arizona? It’s not beyond the scope of imagination that you can put all this together. Get a load of cable and it goes across the border, never to be seen again. That’s the other aspect of the Southwest. It’s where it’s resold.” He noted that the resale value is higher in Mexico.
Chason also noted that while CenturyLink has seen spikes in theft in the past, “This one is right in-line to be as bad as it was before. And our losses the last time exceeded $1,000,000. So we’re very concerned about it. The problem with this issue is these thieves go out and it’s like, they’re shopping. ‘Where can I make a quick buck?’ And when you have less than scrupulous resellers that buy it without tracing where the source of it is, they go and they cash it in. They get the money.”
He said that although CenturyLink has increased security at key facilities, that isn’t always where thieves strike. “They cut down aerial wires, rip out the pedestal wires, even go into our manhole, into what we call vaults. And they go in there and it’s like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
Lumen Technologies and CenturyLink are appealing to Arizonans for help as summer approaches. “The thing that we ask the public is to be eyes and ears because this crime is not a victimless crime. Think about it. Your grandmother is at home, lives out in the sticks, falls, and breaks a hip. How does she call 911?” he asked.
“Our services affect public safety, hospitals, prisons, and your personal life up to and including your cell carrier. The big cell carriers use our fiber and our lines to provide their service so you can knockout cell carriers just by cutting some of these wires.”
Focusing on what the industry needs from lawmakers, Chason said he would ask the authorities to “stop defining this as a property crime. It’s not a property crime. It is a critical infrastructure crime.”
He continued, “Because when you hit us, you affect every possible service out there. For example, they cut some copper and fiber in Tacoma, Washington that fed the port of Tacoma and shut down the entire port. The same cut shut down a prison. It shut down a hospital. We hear these horror stories over and over and over again. And here’s where it’s going to lead. It’s going to lead to the loss of life. That’s exactly where it’s going, and all we’re asking the AG is this. We are working with our legislative branch. We have a legislative and government affairs branch that is working on legislation in Arizona right now.”
Chason concluded that the issue will persist “until we get these designated as a serious crime that has serious penalties.” He continued, “Because our biggest issue is police response because they view it as a property crime. I had a detective tell me that ‘if it ain’t bleeding, don’t call me.’ We defund the police. We don’t give the police the resources that they need, and I’m sensitive to that because that’s where I come from.
“But the fact remains, we are part of that tax base and part of that community, and our job is to be able to serve our customers with the promises that we make. And when you have customers that are without services for weeks because of having to reroute our crews to service the same cuts over and over and over again…. We had one cut, we were repairing an aerial cable in the curve of a road, our crew is on the upper curve repairing, and the thieves are back on the other again, cutting it again! It’s a vicious cycle.
“And it’s not going to change until the public says that’s enough. I’m not feeding your drug habit anymore. That’s enough. If you see something, say something. And once we get that and we can make enough noise, the police will respond.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
