by Daniel Stefanski | May 25, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A bipartisan bill to protect sex trafficking victims was recently signed into law by Arizona’s Governor.
This week, Governor Katie Hobbs signed HB 2623, which “removes the requirement that a prostitution offense be committed by a person before July 24, 2014 in order for the person to apply to have the conviction vacated due to the person’s status as a sex trafficking victim” – according to the overview from the Arizona House of Representatives.
According to the press release issued by state House Republicans, “under the previous law, victims of sex trafficking could apply to have their prostitution convictions vacated if they could prove that the conviction was a direct result of being trafficked. However, this was only appliable if the offense occurred before July 24, 2014. HB 2623 removes the date restriction, allowing victims to apply regardless of when the offense occurred.
State Representative Matt Gress, the sponsor of the legislation, issued a statement following the governor’s positive action on his bill, writing, “Not every victim of sex trafficking is ready or able to share their story at the time of their prosecution. Coming forward is often a long and difficult process. That’s why this new law is important for victims, ensuring they can seek justice and clear their names, no matter when their exploitation occurred.”
Gress added, “I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Sheri Lopez, founder of the non-profit organization Pearl at the Mailbox, a resource for victims of human trafficking. “Sheri testified before several legislative committees, bravely sharing her personal story to educate legislators about the present-day horrors of human trafficking. Her advocacy has been instrumental in bringing about this important legislative change, and her heart to help and heal other victims is an inspiration for us all.”
In February, the bill passed the Arizona House with a 57-0 tally (with two members not voting and one seat vacant). The Arizona Senate amended the proposal in April and approved of the latest version with a 26-1 vote (with three members not voting). The House then concurred with the Senate’s changes with a 57-0 vote (with three members not voting), before sending the legislation to the Governor’s Office for Hobbs’ decision.
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, Arizona Association of Counties, Middle Ground Prison Reform, Arizona National Organization for Women, and State Conference NAACP signed in to endorse the bill.
HB 2623 will go into effect 90 days following the conclusion of the 2024 legislative session.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | May 25, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., offered scholarships to the students in his district who won awards in the Congressional Art Competition.
The U.S. House of Representatives sponsors the Congressional Art Competition, a nationwide high school visual art competition to recognize and encourage artistic talent in every congressional district in the nation, each spring.
Crane represents Arizona’s second district, which is the northeastern part of the state.
The Phippen Museum in Prescott displayed all submitted artwork. Local judges visited to view and evaluate each piece.
Hannah Pryor, a student at Miami High School, won first place this year for her piece “My Cat.” Hannah will fly to Washington, D.C. for an awards banquet and have her award-winning artwork displayed for a year in the U.S. Capitol.
Grayson Edwards of Mingus Union High School won second place for his piece “The Professional.”
Trinity Christian School student Ethan Orr, who was last year’s first place winner, placed third for “A Stroll in Seoul.”
Clay Witten of Trinity Christian School received Honorable Mention for “Downtown Prescott.”
The People’s Choice award went to Lydia Minjarez from Mingus Union High School for “Zebra Eye.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 24, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona legislative Republicans are working to give voters an opportunity to help make future elections more efficient.
Last week, the Arizona Senate Elections Committee considered and passed a strike-everything amendment to HCR 2056, an elections-related ballot measure. If passed by the state Senate and House, the proposal would go to Arizona voters in the November General Election.
According to the purpose from the State Senate’s fact sheet, the bill would “prohibit the use of foreign monies for election administration purposes or to influence the outcome of a ballot measure, change the date by which early ballots must be returned to a polling place from 7:00 p.m. on election day to 7:00 p.m. on the Friday before election day, with exceptions for delivery to the office of the county recorder during emergency voting, [and] require the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to provide for on-site tabulation of all ballots for all voting conducted during early voting or on election day.”
Senator Wendy Rogers issued a statement after the successful passage of the measure out of the committee, writing, “I’m thrilled to report we’re advancing a ballot referral through the Legislature that voters may be able to consider in November to help speed up the process of determining the winners of our elections. Arizona has become the laughing stock of the nation with how long it takes our state to accurately tabulate ballots, not to mention the long lines and wait times voters encounter at the polls. I’m confident our solution is a big step in the right direction to eliminate the chaos.”
Rogers added, “We moved a ‘strike everything amendment’ to HCR 2056 through Senate Elections Committee this week. It would require the use of on-site tabulators in polling places for both Election Day and for early voting, which would lead to a considerably more efficient elections process and faster results. It would also reduce the timeline of when mail-in ballots will be accepted at polling places, but will allow voters to drop them off at the recorder’s office or any designated drop box. Lastly, it would ban all foreign funding of our elections.”
The vote in the Senate Elections Committee was 4-3 in favor of the measure’s advancement. One member did not vote.
Arizona Senate Democrats shared a video out of the Elections Committee, where Secretary of State Adrian Fontes expressed his opposition to the measure. Fontes said, “As it stands today I don’t think the voters deserve to see something like this when there is no sufficient funding in the bill.”
The Senate Democrats’ “X” account also asserted that “this rushed ballot referral will increase provisional ballots, prohibit ‘late early’ drop-offs, and result in longer wait times for EVERYONE.”
The ACLU of Arizona also weighed in on the proposal. Darrell Hill, the policy director for the state’s chapter, said, “Any bill that claims to speed up the election processes by reducing a voter’s ability to cast their ballot is not a solution – it’s blatant voter disenfranchisement.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 24, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Amid protests in the chamber, Arizona Senate Republicans passed a controversial bill to give state voters an opportunity in the November General Election to take border security into their own hands.
On Wednesday, Arizona Senate Republicans reformed the lines around an amended HCR 2060 after a one-week delay, approving the measure after a spirited debate on the floor of the chamber. The legislators weren’t the only individuals making their presence known though, as some onlookers from the gallery interrupted the legislative process to chant “Stop the Hate.”
The protestors were forced to exit the gallery because of their outbursts.
On the floor, Senate Republicans rounded up all 16 votes to give a green light to the border-related measure. Thirteen Democrats voted against it, while one member did not vote.
“The Governor’s reckless disregard for the safety and well-being of our citizens has left us no other option than to send the Secure the Border Act to the ballot to empower Arizonans to take matters into their own hands,” said Senate President Warren Petersen.
According to Arizona Senate Republicans, the measure “would provide local, county, or state law enforcement the authority to arrest individuals who are non-U.S. citizens entering Arizona from Mexico outside of a lawful port of entry.” These enhanced tools for local law enforcement to protect their communities would go into effect only if the federal courts allow a similar policy (SB 4) in the State of Texas and if Arizona voters approve this measure in November. There are additional provisions in HCR 2060 that are not tied to the legal wrangling over SB 4.
The Arizona Senate Democrats’ Caucus “X” account expressed the sentiments of its members, writing, “Today has shown once again that the Republican majority at the legislature has failed Arizona. They rushed through another ballot referral, HCR 2060, that could easily lead to racial profiling across this state, it will give law enforcement unlimited state immunity, and cost taxpayer money to fight in court.”
Arizona Republicans were again clear about the urgent need for state officials to act on the border to protect innocent families. In the press release announcing the result of the vote on HCR 2060, Republicans shared information about the skyrocketing number of suspected terrorists entering the United States over the past four years – “more than 2500%” or 367 individuals.
The Senate Republicans’ “X” account noted that Democrats had voted against “protecting our citizens from border related crimes, providing law enforcement with tools to keep our communities safe, preventing known terrorists from entering Arizona, tougher punishments for criminals trafficking deadly fentanyl across the border, and preventing those who enter Arizona illegally from benefiting from your hard-earned taxpayer dollars and public resources meant for law-abiding citizens.”
The efforts from Arizona legislators to send this referral to state voters comes more than two months after Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed SB 1231, the Arizona Border Invasion Act, which would have “ma[de] it unlawful for a person who is an alien (unlawful immigrant) to enter Arizona from a foreign nation at any location other than a lawful port of entry and outline[d] penalties for violations of illegally entering Arizona and provide[d] immunity from civil liability and indemnification for state and local government officials, employees and contractors who enforce this prohibition” – according to the purpose from the state Senate.
In her veto letter to Senate President Warren Petersen, Hobbs said, “This bill does not secure our border, will be harmful for communities and businesses in our state, and burdensome for law enforcement personnel and the state judicial system. Further, this bill presents significant constitutional concerns and would be certain to mire the State in costly and protracted litigation.”
The Democrat governor has helped to lead the opposition against this measure since its inception a few weeks ago.
Senator Janae Shamp, the sponsor of SB 1231, pushed back on the governor’s opposition, saying, “The people of Arizona have had enough with Democrats turning a blind eye to the border invasion. The chaos Governor Hobbs and Democrat lawmakers are perpetuating from Biden’s open border fiasco needs to stop, and I’m confident it will, when voters make their voices heard in November.”
To ensure that all sixteen Republicans stayed together on final passage of HCR 2060, an amendment was introduced and passed on the Senate floor ahead of the vote to send the measure to the Arizona House. The amendment, in part, “specifie[d] that being a DACA recipient is not an affirmative defense to illegal entry if the program is cancelled or a federal court has issued a final order determining that the program is unlawful, and any appeals of the final order have been exhausted.”
Before the vote on the amended version, Senate Democrats attempted to preempt the Republicans’ efforts to clarify certain provisions of the measure. The Caucus’ “X” account stated that HCR 2060’s “current form is an unfunded mandate that will give near-unlimited immunity for ANY law enforcement officer across the state to arrest someone they suspect has entered the country illegally.”
HCR 2060 now heads to the Arizona House of Representatives, where it is expected to receive expedited consideration from Speaker Ben Toma, who is the sponsor of its original form.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | May 23, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Governor Katie Hobbs announced that she would be recognizing birth control as a right, starting with state employees.
The governor issued an executive order on Monday announcing free birth control for state employees, and ordered the state’s Medicaid agency, Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), to expand contraception access to its members.
The state already issues oral contraceptives to employees at no cost, but only through a prescription. Hobbs’ executive order got rid of the prescription requirement, ordering the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) to cover the cost of current and future over-the-counter contraceptives for state employees.
Hobbs referenced Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli’s take on contraceptives as a criticism of Republicans hesitant to make birth control a right for Arizonans through legislation dubbed the “Right to Contraception Act.”
“While members of our legislature would rather tell Arizona women to put aspirin between their knees than pass the Arizona Right to Contraception Act, I will continue to do everything in my power to protect our reproductive freedom and ensure every Arizonan can access contraception,” said Hobbs.
Earlier this month, the governor signed into law a repeal of the longstanding and, until the past year, dormant total abortion ban. Now, state law only restricts abortions after 15 weeks.
The governor’s most recent executive order declared that contraceptives qualify as “essential health benefits” (EHB) required of health plans by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or “Obamacare.” And, recent changes to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) enabled states to have more flexibility to determine its EHB-benchmark plan set of benefits.
Only the prescription contraceptives qualified as EHB, not over-the-counter ones. Hobbs’ executive order changed that. For now, that only applies to Opill, the only FDA-approved over-the-counter birth control option.
Excluding the universities and Board of Regents, both of which operate their own personnel systems, nearly 56 percent of the state’s nearly 38,300-strong workforce is female: around 21,300 individuals.
Age ranges weren’t defined by ADOA’s annual report, though the average age across both genders was about 44 years old, under the average age of menopause.
The retail price of Opill, the over-the-counter targeted by Hobbs’ executive order, retails at up to $20 per month for a one-month supply.
ASU has more than 20,600 employees. According to their last 10-year report of campus demographics ending in 2022, the university had nearly 10,600 female employees, though the age ranges weren’t disclosed.
The University of Arizona reported nearly 16,700 employees last fall, with about 56 percent of them identifying as female. Age wasn’t disclosed.
Northern Arizona University’s annual report shared they had over 4,600 total faculty and staff last year, not distinguished by gender or age.
ADOA will also be required to provide several reports to Hobbs’ office, one of which will be on benefits and feasibility of access expansion for state employees. That report will be due by June 30.
Another report with ADOA and the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions will study the benefits and feasibility of a new Arizona Essential Health Benefits Benchmark Plan mandating reproductive healthcare benefits for individual and small group private health insurance plans, including prescription and over-the-counter contraceptives, reversible contraceptives, infertility treatment, and in vitro fertilization.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | May 23, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The city of Scottsdale unanimously held off on approval of a sustainability plan during Tuesday’s regular council meeting after mass backlash from citizens.
The plan, in the works since 2021, is part of an implementation of the voter-approved General Plan 2035, and the city’s 2022 and 2024 Organization Strategic Plans. Arizona State University (ASU) Walton Sustainability Solutions Service (WSSS) and the Scottsdale Environmental Advisory Commission (SEAC) played roles in getting the sustainability plan together.
Lisa McNeilly, the city’s sustainability director since 2022, gave the presentation on the proposed plan during Tuesday’s meeting. McNeilly was formerly the sustainability director for the city of Baltimore, Maryland from 2017 to 2022, and UC Berkeley from 2008 to 2017. Prior to those roles, McNeilly served as director of international programs for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change (now the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions), and special assistant for President Bill Clinton’s White House Climate Change Task Force.
McNeilly said that Scottsdale’s sustainability plan — focused on energy, water, waste, air quality, and extreme heat — would not only benefit the environment but afford cost savings, health and safety improvements, and economic vitality.
The five-point framework of the plan focuses on energy, water, waste, air quality, and extreme heat.
Energy targets included reducing citywide and municipal electricity use, citywide and municipal greenhouse gas emissions, and the average energy burden for all households; increasing distributed solar capacity both citywide and municipally, and the percentage of “green” buildings.
Strategies to meet these energy targets focused on reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, improving municipal energy performance, and reducing energy impacts of the built environment through sustainable building practices and policies.
Water targets included reducing residential, municipal, HOA irrigation, and commercial water use; increasing return flow percentage; maximizing annual water banking; and maintaining treated groundwater deliveries to Safe Yield levels.
Strategies to meet these water targets focused on ensuring water system resiliency and reducing municipal water usage.
Waste targets included reducing single-family household, citywide, and municipal landfill refuse; achieving diversion rates ranging from 35 to 90 percent across homes, the city, and municipalities; increasing the percentage of recycling; achieving the diversion rate of brush and bulk waste stream; diverting 30,000 tons annually of citywide organic waste from the landfill; and achieving a recycling contamination rate below five percent.
Strategies to meet these waste targets included increasing diversion rates, strengthening local markets for recycled content, expanding opportunities for diverting organic waste from the landfill, and reducing waste generation.
Air quality targets included reducing unhealthy air days, illnesses for pollution-related health events, and municipal fleet fuel use; and increasing the number of publicly available electric charging ports.
Strategies to meet these air quality targets included “cleaning” the city’s air and supporting adoption of electric and other alternative fuel vehicles.
Extreme heat targets included reducing average July daytime and nighttime temperatures, average surface temperatures, and illnesses for heat-related health events; and increasing tree and shrub canopy.
Strategies to meet these extreme heat targets included expanding heat relief communication and education, protecting people from the health effects of extreme heat, identifying urban design improvements including structured shade and built environment, and planting more trees along with the implementation of other nature-based solutions.
McNeilly emphasized that the plan wouldn’t be enforced through any current or future mandates. It’s unclear to what degree this clarification measures up to a promise: in 2022, the city mandated a “Green Construction Code” for commercial and multifamily buildings that, just a decade earlier, had come into play as a voluntary incentivized option.
The city’s plan didn’t estimate exact costs for the actions and strategies, instead assigning three potential cost ranges to each: up to $50,000, from $50,000 to $250,000, and over $250,000.
During public comment on the proposed plan, Scottsdale residents expressed disdain for the plan.
Austin Fairbanks, a senior research analyst in the State House, said that the plan would have minimal impact on the climate compared to the fiscal and quality of life costs imposed on residents.
Fairbanks said that even if 100 percent of all new Scottsdale buildings went “green” in their construction going forward, the city would only achieve “green” for 8.8 percent of all buildings at the current pace, below the goal of 10 percent — which Fairbanks estimated would come at a cost of $90 million.
“Those are just two examples where logic and fiscal prudence were thrown out the door to accommodate this Green New Deal-style agenda,” said Fairbanks. “We’re told this is an aspirational document, but if you were to adopt this plan, it would be a policy standard for the council and staff that you want to meet these goals. And the easiest ways to achieve those goals is by increasing fees and imposing costs and mandates.”
Fairbanks said that Scottsdale contributed 0.00067 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions: even if the city reached its goal of a 90 percent reduction threshold, it would impact less than seven-millionths of total greenhouse gas emissions. Fairbanks estimated that the cost to nearly eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, though not given by the city in its proposed plan, would amount to $280 million for taxpayers.
“Trying to socially engineer residents to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a total of seven-millionths of the total is the wrong approach,” concluded Fairbanks.
Jim Davis with the Coalition of Greater Scottsdale (COGS) expressed concern that fiscal stability wasn’t prioritized enough by the city in its approach to implementing a sustainability plan. Davis urged the council to focus on boosting tourism, and to back off on high-density residential units due to their low revenue and negative impact on city attractiveness.
“The city is underinvesting in its assets. COGS believes the city is not sustainable,” said Davis.
However, COGS board of directors member Sonnie Kirtley said through a submitted written statement their organization supported the sustainability plan.
Councilman Tom Durham said that the plan was “critical” to Scottsdale’s future. Durham characterized public discontent with the plan as a reticence to pay for the sustainability goals. The councilman said it was “misinformation” that the city would introduce mandates to support its sustainability goals.
“People say we can’t do anything, but we have to: it’s part of our commandment,” said Durham. “Some people thrive on disinformation and finding the government boogeyman behind every door, and we all recognize that’s for political purposes, much of it.”
Councilwoman Betty Janik said that sustainability was nothing to do, and that this new plan was just a continuation of the same direction they’d been heading down. Janik compared the city’s sustainability plan to major invention breakthroughs in history that weren’t preceded by proof of concept: Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin, American astronauts walking on the moon for the first time, and AIDS treatments.
“We cannot force [the sustainability plan] on you, it’s something you have to accept and believe in,” said Janik.
Councilman Barry Graham said he didn’t appreciate his fellow council members “casting aspersions” on the residents, such as calling them “keyboard warriors.” Graham said the plan went too far and was both contradictory and vague in its proposals: significant water reduction for residents while planting more trees, and a lack of specificity regarding costs of all goals.
“We’ve gotten hundreds of emails from residents who are confused or find elements of the plan extreme,” said Graham.
Councilwoman Kathy Littlefield expressed concerns about the “unintended consequences” of the actions proposed, namely the greater cost for citizens for less access to utilities and city services, such as water, waste, and power.
“Since when have we as citizens given the city the kind of power or right to monitor our homes and businesses and our lives to this kind of extent?” said Littlefield.
Littlefield noted that she has never seen such a unanimous, overwhelming rejection by the citizens of an issue as the sustainability plan. Out of hundreds of emails, Littlefield said she only received two in support of the plan.
Councilwoman Tammy Caputi said that citizens were missing the “point of the plan.” Caputi insisted that no mandates would come from the plan. She expressed confusion at the community resistance to the plan, saying she felt she hadn’t heard of this mass resistance before in the past two years of the plan’s development.
Mayor David Ortega stressed that the sustainability plan would be important to implement for Scottsdale’s future wellbeing. Ortega said that the city was running out of its resources and bearing a greater cost for them: landfills for waste, water, energy, and clean air.
The city’s presented sustainability timeline, stretching back to 1967, included the major policy changes and actions undertaken in recent years, such as the banning of natural grass in new single-family homes and addition of solar infrastructure last year; the mandate of a Green Construction Code in 2022; and the approval of the 2035 General Plan in 2021; the installation of LED streetlights in 2020.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
