The Arizona Senate took the final vote on 16 election-related bills on Monday, including one to restore the precinct committeemen (PC) elections, sans its emergency clause implementing it immediately. The remaining 11 of the 16 failed, with either State Senator Paul Boyer (R-Glendale) alone or State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) joining him to kill the bills.
The #AzSen just passed SB1720 – a fix to the PC issue but sans the emergency clause. Just one Democrat voted for it – @seanbowie@FannKfann asks, “What would Sen. Bradley do?”
SB1259, increasing the minimum number of precincts included in post-election hand counts, as well as allowing an Arizona resident or the attorney general, secretary of state, or legislative council to request a recount.
SB1329, requiring county recorders or lead election officials to post online the number of early ballots returned on election day.
SB1362, allowing voters to have their early ballot tabulated on site at a polling place or voting center, so long as they present an ID.
SB1460, allowing voters to receive a standard ballot at a polling place even if they received an early ballot previously, so long as no record of their vote existed in the election system.
Six bills failed narrowly, 15-14, with Boyer being the sole Republican to vote against them:
SB1055, rendering election equipment or services contractors liable for damages and guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor if they fail to fulfill the terms of the contract.
SB1056, invalidating ballots not included in chain of custody documentation and making it a class 2 misdemeanor to knowingly put a ballot into the collection, verification, or tabulation process outside of the official chain of custody.
SB1360, allowing election observers the right to observe, document, and question all stages of the election process.
SB1465, requiring the secretary of state to revoke certification for election equipment that doesn’t meet outlined requirements, and requiring at least one member of the Equipment Certification Advisory Committee to hold a cybersecurity certification. The Senate approved a motion to reconsider the bill from its sponsor, State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff).
SB1577, requiring county recorders or other lead election officials to separate and record duplicated and adjudicated ballots by their type and defect or damage, compiled in a report submitted to the legislature.
SB1609, requiring a court to order an election to be repeated within 90 days if a contested ballot measure or candidate didn’t receive the highest number of votes.
— Paul "nothing but trouble" Boyer (@PaulDBoyer) March 14, 2022
On five bills, Ugenti-Rita joined Boyer and Senate Democrats to vote “no”:
SB1359, requiring unique election system passwords for election employees, volunteers, and contractors.
SB1457, requiring the secretary of state to ensure that vote recording, tabulating machines and devices meet certain security standards, don’t have internet connectivity, and may track users with unique login credentials.
SB1476, requiring ballots to be consecutively numbered with a unique number, and requiring chain of custody documents or logs to track ballots.
SB1570, implementing additional voting equipment chain of custody requirements such as access restricted to authorized election personnel, tamper-proof seals for accessible ports, and chain of custody logging, as well as prohibiting voting equipment from having internet access capabilities.
SB1572, requiring county recorders to publish a list of eligible voters on their website 10 days before primary and general elections, as well as all ballot images and sortable cast-vote records, and requiring all ballots to be separated and tabulated by precinct.
Ugenti-Rita is campaigning for secretary of state this year.
. @PaulDBoyer kills a bill that would require passwords to be unique on tabulation equipment@MichelleUgenti votes No also – – – hoping this means we will see it back
This bill is very simple and the language was modified to serve the counties#SB1359
— Merissa Hamilton 🗳 ⛽🗽 (@merissahamilton) March 14, 2022
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A bill to require K-12 schools to post all curriculum and learning materials on their website passed the State Senate along party lines, 16-13. It now heads to the House for consideration.
Senate Democrats argued that the bill would hinder teachers’ ability to have flexible, constantly changing lesson plans. State Senator Christine Marsh (D-Phoenix) said that while she agrees “100 percent” with transparency, she said that the bill would result in a slew of unintended consequences. Marsh claimed that teachers would be too busy uploading curriculum data to spend additional time with students.
Some Arizona teachers complained that they can’t meet the requirements of the bill because there would be no way to have their curriculum done in time for review. The bill sponsor, State Senator Nancy Barto (R-Phoenix) rebutted that claim during the Senate’s vote on Monday, explaining that what was required of teachers concerned a list of material titles “like a syllabus.”
“It’s been even testified by opponents, teachers who oppose the bill, even in their testimony they were saying they already do something like this,” said Barto. “What it will require is merely putting up the title of what they’re teaching of their lesson plans every week. And not the entire year in advance, which some somehow translate this bill as requiring. Nope. It’s within seven days after, so they just have to use something like a Google Doc, which many are using already — it was testified over and over again.”
Barto cited a study that teachers spend an average of four hours a week searching for material to use in their classrooms.
Nobody expects, and sadly our children don’t deserve, an inquisition… but that is exactly what #SB1211 is – an unjustified, backwards, and blatant example of big/authoritarian government overreach that would hurt AZ’s children.
Some Republicans expressed reluctance to have their vote fall in line with the party.
State Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita (R-Scottsdale) expressed that the bill was a step in the direction but failed to get at the root of the problem with Arizona’s school system. Ugenti-Rita claimed that the problems concerned leadership, teacher’s unions, and nonpartisan school board members.
“Putting up loads and loads of information isn’t really going to solve the problem we have in K-12,” said Ugenti-Rita. “This is really not enough to get at the problem. This will leave parents with the impression that something is done when nothing is done. I don’t know what our obsession is with putting things online but you need to really go after the sacred cow, and it’s not the materials online, it’s the elections — these nonpartisan school board elections.”
Ugenti-Rita also expressed concerns that the bill was “intense and overkill.” She asked for commitment from House leadership to make the legislation implementable.
“To me, this is like a supplement. It’s like if you had real, deep health problems, a vitamin isn’t going to fix it. You need to diet, you need to exercise. This is helpful, but it’s really not going to get at the problem at our schools. This isn’t going to keep schools open. This is really going to do very little than look as though we’re doing something,” said Ugenti-Rita.
State Senator Tyler Pace (R-Mesa) said bills like Barto’s were the reason he took heartburn pills over the summer. Pace said he disliked the broad scope of what information educators would have to upload. However, Pace admitted there was a need for curriculum transparency, citing his own experience in which he learned a teacher allowed his kids’ class to play games like “Cupcake Vampire Princess Makeup Tutorials” after they finished an exam.
Other Republicans normally on the fence with certain party initiatives supported the bill wholeheartedly. State Senator Paul Boyer (R-Glendale) rebutted that the legislation wouldn’t be a burden on teachers, citing his own experience. Boyer insisted that it would alleviate current burdens on parents as well as benefit teachers looking to improve their curriculum by looking at what teachers are using at successful schools.
Passage of the bill comes over a month after the Senate Education Committee approved the bill.
NOW: SB1211 Academic Transparency passes the AZ senate! Now headed to the House. This bill let’s parents know what’s being taught in their kid’s classroom @GoldwaterInst@NancyBartopic.twitter.com/Or3xi1AYta
A Phoenix-area Antifa member, Arizona State University (ASU) graduate, and certified nursing assistant (CNA), Marysa Leyva, made death threats against prominent investigative journalist Andy Ngo, who rehashed details about Leyva’s Antifa involvement and criminal history.
Leyva’s comments were associated with claims that Ngo was behind the shooting that took place at an Antifa meeting in Portland, Oregon earlier this month. Ngo reported that Leyva resides in the Portland area, consistent with the location listed in one of her Twitter account bios.
Disinfo #antifa accounts are spreading false claims about the shooting in Portland. They falsely claim I posted a flyer about their event & that I was involved in the shooting.
Marysa Leyva says it is time for me to die. Felony suspect Alissa Azar says I have blood on my hands. pic.twitter.com/6RrBm1iZ5G
Marysa Leyva, a Phoenix-area militant #antifa member & a traveling nurse who is now in Portland, is calling for me to be killed. She used to run @antifash_m but was so extreme that she was permanently suspended. Now she's evading that ban with a new account calling for violence. pic.twitter.com/s4KAXP9Y18
As Ngo reported, Leyva’s original account, @antifash_m, was suspended for violating Twitter rules. Leyva then made her backup account, @BirdAppFugitive, private after Ngo discovered it; sometime that same week, that secondary account was also suspended. Leyva’s bio describes the account as a slander account for Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel, who is under investigation by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and the State Bar of Arizona for her sobriety and absence at work.
Leyva was one of 15 individuals who received controversial and later dropped street gang charges for her involvement in the August 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest, which included assisting a criminal street gang, aggravated assault on an officer, rioting, unlawful assembly, resisting arrest, and obstructing a public thoroughfare. As AZ Free News reported, ASU graduate student Sarra Tekola was among those charged. Leyva toldABC15 Arizona that although the felony charges against her were dropped, the ordeal caused her to lose her patient care technician job with Tempe St. Luke’s emergency room.
“We were like, this is just so outrageous,” said Leyva. “How are they ever going to prove this in a court of law? We know Phoenix Police Department is bad, but man, they, like, really were just seeing how much they could get away with.”
Leyva also tweeted that the survival of the five officers who were ambushed by a shooter earlier this month while trying to rescue an infant was a “missed opportunity.”
According to the Arizona State Board of Nursing, Leyva’s nursing license was issued December of last year, and won’t expire until March 2024.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The Arizona House unanimously passed a bill Friday ensuring veterans will receive in-state tuition rates, following unanimous support in the Senate last month. The bill, SB1115, also eliminated requirements that veterans needed to enroll in a college or university within three years of their discharge.
Out-of-state students pay tens of thousands more for tuition: around $18,000 at Arizona State University, over $24,000 more at University of Arizona, and nearly $15,000 more at Northern Arizona University.
The bill now heads to Governor Doug Ducey to become law.
Ducey proposed that veterans’ spouses should receive a higher education tuition-free as well.
Currently, veterans may receive free tuition if they have a 50 percent or more disability rating, received a Purple Heart medal, and was a resident of Arizona or stationed in Arizona at the time of their injury. Spouses of military members who died in the line of duty or from injuries obtained while serving are also eligible.
In Arizona, we celebrate and honor our veterans. Veterans in Arizona can attend in-state universities and community colleges free of charge. Now, let’s extend the same courtesy to their dedicated husbands and wives. #AZUnstoppablepic.twitter.com/mT2dhnUCwB
An effort to pass an emergency state law limiting what information can be disclosed about a child’s immunization records and to whom is expected to move forward in the State Senate this week.
The Arizona Department of Health Services has long utilized a Child Immunization Reporting System to collect, store, analyze, release and report immunization data. Identifying information in the system is confidential as per state law, while the federal Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) also addresses privacy standards for the electronic exchange of medical information.
The State has also approved Health Current, a non-profit, to serve as the health information exchange organization that connects more than 500 Arizona healthcare entities, including first responders, hospitals, labs and providers of community behavioral health, physical health, post-acute care, and hospice providers.
Senate Bill 1167 was introduced by Sen. T.J. Shope in January to allow Health Connect to “receive, use and redisclose confidential information regarding child immunizations and communicable diseases.” The bill initially passed the Senate’s Health & Human Services Committed last month with bipartisan support, but has received recent pushback.
Critics of the bill argue Health Connect should not be allowed to receive data from the Child Immunization Reporting System unless a parent or guardian specifically opts-in. There is also concern that the data could be used for inclusion in a federal vaccine database or to infringe upon the rights of individuals due to their vaccination status.
Senator Nancy Barto (R-LD15) proposed an amendment to Shope’s bill last Thursday to address those concerns. Her amendment failed, but Shope (R-LD8) then proposed his own amendment without a parental or guardian opt-in provision.
Shope’s amendment was adopted on the Senate Floor. The current language of SB1167 limits Health Connect’s use of confidential child immunization and communicable disease information “to only the purposes permitted by HIPAA privacy standards.”
In addition, the organization would be prohibited from “using or disclosing” identifying information from the childhood immunization reporting system for inclusion in a federal vaccine database. Health Connect would also be prohibited using or disclosing data “for any purpose that serves to discriminate against individuals based on their vaccination status.”
SB1167 would become law effective immediately upon the governor’s signature due to the inclusion of an emergency provision that the legislation is necessary “to preserve the public peace, health or safety.” But to get there, SB1167 needs to clear the Senate and then the House by a two-thirds margin in both chambers.
Several healthcare organizations support SB1167, including Banner Health Arizona, United Healthcare Services, and the Arizona Hospital & Healthcare Association.
On Thursday, three State Senate Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against HB2696, a bill increasing sentencing for those who sexually abuse, smuggle, or traffic children. They argued that illegal immigrants or those transporting illegal immigrants around the state — not bringing them across the border — might be unfairly swept up under this bill.
The bill sponsor, State Representative Leo Biasucci (R-Lake Havasu City), explained during committee that the legislation would afford children with greater protections while creating disincentives for would-be perpetrators. Last month during the House Judiciary Committee consideration of the bill, Biasucci noted that current law allows criminals impacted by this bill to be released on probation after a few months. He described his bill as “put[ting] the hammer down.”
“It’s insane to think we continue to allow these people to walk our streets. And until we send a message that you’re going to go to prison for a very long time, it’ll never stop. It’s very simple and, in my opinion, not even debatable,” said Biasucci.
In opposition to the bill, State Senator Stephanie Stahl Hamilton (D-Tucson) said that human smuggling charges should be addressed in a separate bill.
Minority Whip Martin Quezada (D-Glendale) concurred with Stahl Hamilton, calling the broadness of the bill “troubling and scary.” Quezada added that those transporting illegal immigrant children to various day-to-day activities like doctor’s appointments shouldn’t fear a human smuggling charge.
“These are family members that people are going to be transporting, you know taking to school, taking to the doctor, visiting other family, taking to the park — and now they’re going to be charged as human smugglers?” said Quezada. “Is this making the anti-immigrant culture in our community, is it making it better or is it going to make it worse? Is it going to further divide our community, or is it going to bring us together more?”
On the side of the committee Democrats was the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona. They didn’t speak on the bill during any committee consideration of the bill.
In the House, only State Representatives Morgan Abraham (D-Tucson), Melody Hernandez (D-Tempe), Pamela Powers Hannley (D-Tucson), and Minority Whip Domingo DeGrazia (D-Tucson) voted against the bill. They didn’t explain their votes.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
