Arizona is the state with the third best economic climate, according to a new report from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
“Arizona’s high ranking is a direct result of significant pro-growth income and property tax reform that has supercharged our economy,” President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club Scot Mussi told AZ Free News. “In the last decade we have slashed our income tax rates in half, cut taxes on capital gains, and significantly reduced the property tax burden on small businesses.”
Utah and Idaho surpassed the Grand Canyon state for best economic climates. New York, Vermont, and Illinois placed in the bottom three.
Arizona has moved up from 13th place in 2021 to third in 2024. Arizona’s population increased by 115,900 from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, estimates from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity show. This translated into 1.6% growth, much faster than the U.S. at 0.5%.
Arizona ranks third for tax expenditure limits, first for being a right-to-work state with the option to join or support a union, first for estate/inheritance tax levied, and first for remaining tax burden.
It also ranked second for public employees per 10,000 of population and eighth for average worker compensation cost.
Mussi said Arizona is on track to continue its route of economic growth.
“As long as we keep these reforms in place, Arizona will remain a destination for both families and entrepreneurs,” he said.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
One Arizona Republican lawmaker is cheering on the success of her efforts to protect children in her state this legislative session.
Earlier this week, Senator Janae Shamp issued a press release to highlight two of her bills that were recently signed into law by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs. Those bills were SB 1236 and SB 1404.
🚨 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Senator Shamp Champions Legislation to Protect Arizona’s Children pic.twitter.com/JowWIL4vKy
According to the legislative fact sheets for both proposals, SB 1236 would “modif[y] offender age thresholds that require the Department of Public Safety to include offenders of specified offenses on the Internet Sex Offender Website;” while SB 1404 would “require registered sex offenders with legal custody of a child to provide name and enrollment information on the child and expand mandatory community notifications to include level-one sex offenders of a dangerous crime against children.”
Hobbs signed SB 1404 on March 29, and SB 1236 on April 16.
“This session, I made it my goal to be a living nightmare for sex offenders,” said Senator Shamp. “I introduced several bills, including SB 1236 and SB 1404, to protect our state’s most innocent and vulnerable, while increasing consequences for criminals who commit these horrific crimes. DCACs include sex trafficking, mutilation, prostitution, and commercial sexual exploitation. These crimes have lifelong, and potentially deadly effects on a child. Every parent and every school deserves to know who these criminals are in order to better protect their children.”
Both laws will go into effect in the State of Arizona 90 days after the legislature adjourns for the 2024 session.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A bill to help increase transparency for Arizona school board elections was vetoed by the state’s Democrat governor.
On Wednesday, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed SB 1097, which would have “require[d] school district governing board election ballots to include each candidate’s partisan designation as specified beginning January 1, 2025” – according to the purpose from the State Senate.
In her veto letter to Senate President Warren Petersen, Hobbs explained that she had made her decision because the bill “will further the politicization and polarization of Arizona’s school district governing boards whose focus should remain on making the best decisions for students, [and that] partisan politics do not belong in Arizona’s schools.”
Senator Justine Wadsack, the bill’s sponsor, was outraged by the governor’s veto. She released a lengthy statement to call out Hobbs’ action, writing, “In her veto letter, Governor Katie Hobbs stated the school district governing boards’ focus should remain on making the best decisions for students. How can we ensure we’ve elected members that will make the best decisions for students if we don’t know where they stand on important issues? For example, Democrats have voted for things like detrimental mask mandates, extreme social distancing, calling children by different names and pronouns while withholding that information from their parents, and exposing our kids to inappropriate and vulgar content. In the past, we’ve also had Arizona school boards vote to ban educators based on their conservative Christian beliefs. Republican values, on the other hand, lie in protecting our children from harmful mandates, inappropriate content, and woke ideology, while empowering parents to take an active role in their child’s education. By vetoing this bill, Governor Katie Hobbs is conveniently pushing to protect the radical Left ideology infiltrating our schools.”
Wadsack added, “School boards are some of the most important elections we have in our communities. They’re the closest to our children, and our local school boards govern issues that impact the education and well-being of our families. We should be able to access this information without having to dig and deduce.”
— AZ Senator Justine Wadsack (@Wadsack4Arizona) April 18, 2024
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, Opportunity Solutions Project, A For America, and Arizona Department of Education, had signed in to support the proposal. Representatives from Arizona Association of County School Superintendents, Arizona School Administrators, Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Arizona Education Association, and Save Our Schools Arizona, opposed the legislation.
The bill had first passed the Arizona Senate in February with a 16-10 vote (with four members not voting). It then was approved by the Arizona House earlier this month with a 31-28 vote (with one seat vacant).
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Democratic Congressman and Senate candidate Ruben Gallego was characterized as having “walked out” on his wife and unborn child in a new attack ad from GOP forces.
The ad, created by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), said Gallego left his former wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, for a “D.C. lobbyist”: his current wife, Sydney Barron, a lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors.
“If deadbeat dad Ruben Gallego would abandon his own family, he won’t be there for Arizonans when it matters most,” stated the ad.
A press release accompanying the attack ad pointed out that Gallego continues to champion women’s rights and prioritizing women on issues like abortion and higher pay, yet walked away from the closest woman in his life.
I grew up in a house with four strong, independent Latinas. They made me the man I am today.
To the women who made their impact and the ones paving the way for generations, this #WomensHistoryMonth, we celebrate you!
NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell emphasized the timing of the Gallegos’ divorce as a disqualifier for Gallego serving in the Senate.
“Arizona women can’t trust a man who divorced his wife when she was weeks away from having their child,” said Mitchell.
Gallego once believed that divorce wasn’t an option, writing in a 2012 Twitter post that his Catholicism prevented him from ever seeking it. It’s unclear what changed for Gallego in the span of a few short years.
“I am Catholic [and] don’t believe in divorce,” said Gallego.
I am Catholic don't believe in divorce. Sorry Pakistan you are stuck with me #debate
Gallego and Barron didn’t begin dating until several years after the divorce. The pair wed in 2021.
Ruben and Kate were married from 2010, the year Gallego joined Congress, to 2017, when Kate was still part of the city council. The pair divorced shortly before the birth of their son, Michael.
Kate became mayor of Phoenix in 2018, after then-Mayor Greg Stanton announced his run for Congress.
According to Gallego, he met Barron in 2018. Gallego and his second wife welcomed their first child, a daughter named Isla, into the world last July.
Five years ago, I met Sydney at the Congressional baseball game, and now we’re getting ready to welcome our daughter into the world any day.
The Phoenix mayor doesn’t publicly appear to hold hard feelings against her ex-husband. She endorsed him last December.
“I’m proud to endorse Ruben because I know first-hand his commitment to building a brighter future for Arizona,” said the mayor. “We have real challenges facing our state that require a leader who is dedicated to fighting for working families and the most vulnerable. He’ll do an excellent job working for all of us as our next senator.”
However, Gallego has excluded the mayor’s endorsement from his official endorsement page. The only Phoenix official he’s featured under his lengthy list of Arizona official endorsements is former vice mayor Yassamin Ansari, who is now running for Congress.
The GOP attack line on Gallego’s love life and fatherhood record wasn’t a new concept rolled out recently. The NRSC released a similar ad last November with the characterization of Gallego as a “deadbeat dad.”
.@RubenGallego abandoned his wife when she was nearly 9 months pregnant, then married a DC lobbyist. @kyrstensinema is a liberal Democrat.
Gallego has posted about his son from his personal, now campaign account nearly every single month last year, with a sporadic array of posts in the years prior.
Becoming a dad was the best thing that ever happened to me. Michael brought me strength, humility, and so much love. Just a few weeks until i’m a dad of two.
Seven in 10 workers don’t wanna work from home, according to a ResumeBuilder.com survey of 1,250 full-time workers.
While 70% don’t want to be fully remote, 40% want to be fully in-person, and 32% prefer hybrid work. Employees cited communication and collaboration as the top reasons why employees want in-person work.
“With the tug-and-pull surrounding remote and hybrid work, the voices of those advocating for full-time in-office work have not always received equal attention,” Resume Builder’s Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller said.
The majority of those who want hybrid work want three days in-office. Thirteen percent of those would like to work four days in-person, 41% say three days per week is ideal, and 27% prefer two days in person. Ten percent would like to work one day per week in office, and 9% prefer one to three days per month.
“While the desire for some in-office presence remains prevalent, the extent of this preference remains subject to flux,” Haller said. “It’s clear that a one-size-fits-all approach is no longer tenable in today’s diverse workforce landscape. Yet, the specific configuration of in-office versus remote work versus hybrid continues to be a matter of ongoing negotiation and adaptation.”
Out of those who prefer remote work, 87% prefer work from home, while 9% would rather be in a hybrid environment, and 4% prefer in-person options.
Of hybrid employees, 68% prefer hybrid work, while 27% would like to work remotely, and 5% would rather be in-person. Of fully in-person employees, 58% prefer in-person work, while 24% would rather work in a hybrid model, and 18% would prefer remote work.
Haller said she is convinced the hybrid model will emerge as the predominant choice of most workers.
“This approach accommodates the diverse needs and preferences of both employees and employers, fostering a more flexible and resilient work environment capable of meeting the challenges of the modern era and the need for more workers to achieve a work-life balance,” Haller said.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ-01) gave a brief rundown on the state of his constituents’ financial well-being under Biden before Congress on Tuesday.
Schweikert said that his district consists of some of the more well-off, educated, and entrepreneurial constituents in Arizona and the country. Yet, Schweikert says his more “prosperous” district has become poorer even when accounting for factors like wage growth.
“In my district, we’ve had the highest inflation in the continental United States. If you do not make 23.6 percent more money today than you did the day President Biden took office, you are poorer,” said Schweikert.
Want to understand why the public isn’t so bubbly about the economy?
If you live in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area and haven’t received a 23.6% pay increase since President Biden took office, you are poorer today.
Schweikert’s district spans a northeast section of Phoenix that encompasses Scottsdale, Paradise Valley Fountain Hills, Cave Creek, the Salt River and Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation reservations, and part of the Tonto National Forest.
The congressman went on to say that his fellow congressmen, dubbed “the clown show,” needed to have “an honest conversation” with constituents to acknowledge that they’ve grown poorer in recent years.
Arizona experienced the highest inflation rates since February 2021, only returning to a lower rate of 2.7 percent earlier this year, last seen March 2021.
Both Arizona State University business professor and Carey School director Mark Stapp and University of Arizona economics center director George Hammond toldCronkite News last year that the reason for Arizona having the highest inflation — mainly Phoenix — has to do with shelter costs.
Arizona’s high growth rate, coupled with the lack of supply, prompted a rapid rise in housing and rent prices.
In 2022, the state boasted the highest inflation rate in the nation. At the time, the Phoenix area had a 13 percent inflation, much higher than the nationwide inflation rate at the time of 8 percent.
Schweikert has repeatedly urged his colleagues to curb inflation, last month pointing out the effects of the record levels of spending under the Biden administration. Schweikert projected that the total deficit spending for the 2024 fiscal year will be higher than both the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have projected.
Over the past three years, Arizona’s food banks have reported an unprecedented increase in the number of clientele they’re serving. The Arizona Food Bank Network reported earlier this year that it and its member food banks have served 14 percent more individuals in 2023 than in 2022 (a total of nearly 570,000 people a month), and 20 percent more than before the pandemic.
Conversely, the census reported that 12.5 percent of Arizonans were living in poverty in 2023 — the lowest rate in the past decade.
Schweikert hasn’t been the only one of Arizona’s congressmen to criticize federal leaders’ approach to handling inflation. Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) remarked during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union last month that the overall inflation rate had hit nearly 20 percent since 2021, costing Arizonans nearly $13,000 in 2023 according to the Joint Economic Committee.
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