by Daniel Stefanski | May 9, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
After a state senator aired his frustrations with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, two legislative vacancies have been filled.
On Friday and Monday, respectively, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors filled a vacant seat in the Arizona House of Representatives for Legislative District 13 and a vacant seat in the Senate for Legislative District 26.
Julie Willoughby was appointed for Legislative District 13. The newest House Republican fell short of victory in the 2022 election but found her way into the chamber in 2023 thanks to the expulsion of former Representative Liz Harris.
In announcing the selection of Willoughby, Maricopa Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Jack Sellers issued the following statement: “I would like to thank the PC’s from District 13 for selecting three qualified candidates for our consideration. I interviewed all of them about important issues such as Prop 400, homelessness, water, and elections. We take this duty seriously and follow a process that includes background checks and interviews so residents can be confident in the person chosen to fill the vacant seat.”
House Speaker Ben Toma told AZ Free News, “We’re proud to welcome Representative Willoughby to the House and to be a part of our majority Republican Caucus. There is still a lot of important work for us to accomplish this session for the people of Arizona and we can’t wait to get it done.”
Representative Flavio Bravo was appointed for Legislative District 26, opening up another vacancy to be filled in the state house. Bravo was selected after the resignation of former Senator Raquel Terán.
Bravo’s appointment was also heralded by another Maricopa County Supervisor, Steve Gallardo, who stated: “I would like to thank the PC’s from District 26 for selecting three qualified candidates for our consideration. It was a difficult decision because I respect all three of these community leaders. Flavio Bravo knows this district well and will represent it vigorously in the Senate.”
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ appointments came after Arizona Senator J.D. Mesnard took to the floor of his chamber to address the Board’s ongoing consideration of two legislative vacancies.
Senator Mesnard’s frustrations boiled over on the Senate floor as he laid out his charge against the Supervisors’ alleged delay in filling the two vacancies for 19 (Senate) and 20 (House) days. He informed his colleagues “the length of these vacancies is the longest, while we’ve been in session, in a half a century – 56 years!” Mesnard also said that 8.76 days is the historical average to fill the vacancy.
The East Valley lawmaker indicated that due to this historic delay, changes in statute could be on the horizon to ensure a more expedient selection by a county board of supervisors during an ongoing legislative session.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | May 9, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Attorney General Kris Mayes has claimed that universal school choice will bankrupt the state, despite expenditure data showing that school choice saves the state money.
Mayes made the claims in a Saturday letter threatening to sue Gov. Katie Hobbs and the state legislature over last year’s universalization of the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program. Mayes blamed the ESA Program for the state’s decision to deny her office ongoing funding, claiming that the program was a “catastrophic drain” on state resources.
The state budget reached an unanticipated increase to $2.5 billion despite the 40,000 leap in ESA Program enrollments. Total ESA enrollments reached nearly 52,000 in March. At present, there are nearly 54,000 students enrolled.
ESA Program students provide a cost-saving measure for the state. Each student receives up to $7,000 in scholarship funds — about half of what the average public school spends on each student.
Current ESA Program participation reflects a cost savings of about $363 million. Originally, those students without universal school choice would cost the state about $725 million.
Although Mayes named Hobbs as an opponent on this issue, Hobbs wouldn’t side with the slim-Republican majority supporting school choice in this fight over ESA Program funding. Hobbs has previously proposed rolling back the ESA Program on the grounds that it would cost the state $1.5 billion over the next decade.
Hobbs omitted the fact that the Arizona public school system costs $15 billion annually. If every one of the estimated 1.15 million students joined the ESA Program, the cost would be just over $8 billion annually.
After Mayes’ letter, other Democrats joined in on the call to roll back the ESA Program. State Rep. Judy Schwiebert (D-LD02) insisted that the ESA Program funds were taken away from other, more important issues.
“We need to fight the fentanyl crisis; protect our children; combat elder abuse; fund our secure & safe elections, and deal with the homelessness, housing, teacher & water crises,” stated Schwiebert.
State Rep. Austin Smith (R-LD29) countered that claim, declaring that ESA Program funding would cause bankruptcy was untrue.
Mesa Public Schools (MPS) Board Member Rachel Walden shared that MPS had more funding at present than they had prior to the ESA Program universalization.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | May 9, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates now claims to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which reportedly flared up recently after a Trump supporter came to do work on his home.
Gates revealed the diagnosis to the Washington Post in an article published over the weekend. After documenting at length Gates’ mental decline from 2020 onward, beginning with stress over the pushback against his decision to enact a mask mandate, the outlet concluded with Gates being triggered by the sight of a supporter of former President Donald Trump.
The offending individual was a worker wearing Trump’s trademark “Make America Great Again” red hat, who’d come over to fix a leaky pipe at Gates’ residence. Gates told the Washington Post that he’d felt “anger swelling in his chest,” and had to leave the room where the worker was to take some “deep breaths” to control his anger.
“It was a trigger to see that hat in my house,” stated Gates.
The Washington Post documented Gates ranting at the funeral last May for former Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel. Gates recounted how an unnamed “prominent” Republican shared that he found election denialism “all very boring,” to which Gates said he “saw red” and thought, “F**k you.”
Gates reportedly began “wildly waving his arms” while ranting, described as “out of control” and disruptive. According to those around him witnessing the behavior, Gates was on “the brink.”
The outburst reportedly caused his wife to confront him. Gates’ wife insisted that he go to therapy, and he said he did.
Gates described Election Day last year as a “war zone,” in reference to the flocks of officials and law enforcement at voting centers following the mass voting machine failures that may have disenfranchised thousands of voters.
Gates told the outlet that, despite feeling relief at giving up his chairmanship in January, he still struggled with the same negative feelings.
This was the second profile piece of Gates in as many months. The Atlantic profiled him in March, though Gates made no mention of his PTSD diagnosis at the time. Gates offered a slightly different version of himself: calmer, less stressed. The words peppered throughout this more recent profile piece — “anxiety,” “anger,” “stress,” “insecurity,” “resentment” — were absent from the one released just several months ago. In that piece, he expressed hopefulness throughout, even in response to uncertain situations he’d faced throughout COVID-19 and the last two elections. The article characterized him as a “leading defender” of elections.
When asked by the outlet whether he felt “threatened” by the demands of former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, Gates demurred, saying that “threat” was “too strong a word.”
“I felt pressure. I felt like if I didn’t do what she wanted to do, that there would be political ramifications, certainly,” said Gates.
Gates expressed belief that although he considered himself “politically dead,” he felt he could run for office again at some point beyond 2024.
Near the conclusion of his piece in The Atlantic, Gates said that he believed the current political climate is second only in severity to the Civil War.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | May 8, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
State Rep. Jennifer Pawlik (D-LD13) announced on Tuesday that she won’t be seeking re-election. This means the district may experience a fresh slate of leadership come November 2024.
Pawlik stated that she needed to go in a different direction with her political career. Pawlik has also worked as a Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) teacher.
“It’s time to take my leadership and service in a new direction and to open the door for new candidates to run in this district,” said Pawlik.
District 13 incorporates Chandler, Sun Lakes, and Gilbert. Pawlik was elected to the legislature in 2019, defeating the mother of State Sen. J.D. Mesnard (D-LD13) for the seat.
That same district recently experienced another, different loss with the expulsion of their other state representative, Liz Harris. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is looking for a replacement for Harris.
The seat will likely be one of the more competitive ones heading into the 2024 election, a significant turning point for a closely-divided legislature where Republicans hold a bare majority. Pawlik was the first Democrat elected to the district.
Less than 24 hours after Pawlik’s announcement, former Republican state representative Jeff Weninger filed a statement of interest for reclaiming the seat. Another listed as running for a District 17 seat is Julie Willoughby, another Republican who filed last month and ran last year.
Pawlik earned 35 percent of the vote (47,166 votes); Harris, 32 percent (43,829); and Willoughby 32 percent as well (43,559). Pawlik ran uncontested in the Democratic primary last year.
Prior to Pawlik, the district was held by former Republican legislator Joanne Osborne and current Republican State Rep. Tim Dunn (R-LD25).
During her time in the legislature, Pawlik has only had one bill codified: HB2639 last year, declaring May to be Asian American/Pacific Islander Month.
Pawlik co-sponsored 14 bills that were codified, mainly relating to mental health and racial equity efforts. The co-sponsored bills signed into law were: HB2570 in 2019, establishing a study committee on murdered indigenous women; HB2646 in 2019, allowing Arizona Commerce Authority to review Rural E-Connectivity Pilot Program applicants; HB2672 in 2019, cracking down on “party house” short-term rentals; SB1468 in 2019, requiring the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System Administration to make suicide awareness and prevention training available and requiring educators to include suicide awareness and prevention training; SB1446 in 2020, requiring student ID cards to include contact information for suicide prevention resources, crisis centers, or emotional support services; SB1445 in 2020, requiring instruction on suicide awareness and prevention to be included in school counselor and social worker training programs; HB2098 in 2021, establishing reporting requirements for law enforcement agencies receiving reports of missing, kidnapped, or runaway children; HB2241 in 2021, requiring information about the Holocaust and other genocides to be taught at least twice between grades 7 and 12; HB2705 in 2021, allowing students belonging to a Native American tribe to wear their traditional tribal regalia or objects of cultural significance at a graduation ceremony; HB2787 in 2021, modifying criteria for an agency determination of whether a person’s criminal record disqualifies a person for a license, permit, certificate, or other state recognition; SB1097 in 2021, allowing students absent for experiencing behavioral or mental health issues to have an excused absence; SB1376 in 2021, includes mental health instruction in the health education course of study and competency requirements adopted by the State Board of Education; HB2083 in 2022, requiring the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System to cover the costs of up to 10 annual program hours of diabetes self-management training if prescribed by a primary care physician; and HB2309 in 2022, requiring a police officer to read juveniles their Miranda rights prior to questioning them in temporary custody.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 8, 2023 | Education, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Last week, Governor Katie Hobbs signed HB 2456 into law, continuing the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) for four years.
In a letter to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Hobbs explained the reasons why she signed the bill from the Legislature, writing, “The Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) is a cornerstone of the visually impaired and Deaf and hard of hearing communities in Arizona. For over 110 years, ASDB has moved forward with their mission of providing well-rounded, high-quality education to children who are blind, visually impaired, hard of hearing or deafblind from birth to grade 12.”
Hobbs, though, did not stop with this positive reinforcement of the bill, deciding to attack legislators over their deliberations. She stated, “The ASDB community was treated with a lack of respect and was not given equal access to participate in the legislative process. Parents, students, and teachers were made to worry about the continuing existence of their school while caught in the middle of political games being played by a fringe minority of the Legislature.”
The Democrat governor encouraged “the Legislature to reflect on the passage of HB 2456 and send (her) a bill next session that includes a full eight-year continuation.”
Republican legislators didn’t take kindly to the governor’s volley in their direction – especially Senator Jake Hoffman, who was one of the principals in shaping the proposal to ensure adequate oversight. He told AZ Free News, “Sadly, Katie Hobbs continues to engage in childish behavior and play petty partisan games in both her rhetoric and actions. Delivering the highest quality educational services to Arizona’s deaf and blind children is not only the right thing to do, it’s a constitutional obligation. Democrats’ exploitation of this important Arizona community in an attempt to score cheap political points is both despicable and highly offensive. Republicans are committed to providing the best education possible to every child, including the deaf and blind, and allowing for greater oversight furthers that mission.”
HB 2456 garnered significant bipartisan support on the floors of both legislative chambers; however, the process and debate was extremely partisan in nature – largely due to the number of years for the continuation. When the proposal was first put before the full House for a vote, it passed 60-0. The Senate then amended the bill and approved it 27-1, with two Democrats not voting. The House then concurred with the Senate’s changes, giving the final green light to transmit it to the Governor’s Office by a vote of 58-0, with one Democrat member not voting and one seat vacant.
Although most of their members voted to clear the bill from the chamber, the Arizona Senate Democrats Conference was furious after the vote, tweeting the following response to the Senate Republicans’ statement: “Try talking to the community before you speak on their behalf.
You know that the Conference Committee recommended 8yrs., the House passed 8yrs., the community asked for 8yrs. Senator Hoffman is dragging his caucus down with him.”
On April 14, the Senate Democrats also issued a series of tweets that blistered Republicans for “attacking the Arizona State School for the Deaf & the Blind.” The Democrats charged the Republicans were engaging in “discrimination,” writing, “This community has seen and dealt with this type of ableism and protectionism before. It was this type of thinking that allowed the disabled to be stripped of their autonomy and their fundamental rights in the past. Disability does not equate to incompetence and reviving this history of bias and prejudice is not only discriminatory, it’s dangerous and wrong. Republicans are performing a type of prejudicial bias that we cannot let go unchecked. Discrimination against the disabled should never go unchallenged.”
Of course, Senate and House Republicans would vehemently disagree with the framing from their colleagues on the other side of the aisle. During the legislative process, the Senate Republican Caucus shared a clip of Senator Jake Hoffman on the floor during the Committee of the Whole consideration of the bill, explaining “why an 8-10 year continuation of these schools without proper oversight would be a big mistake.” In his remarks, Hoffman said that “the Constitution gives us the authority and responsibility to provide educational services for deaf and blind children. Yet for some reason, we’ve been treating this incredibly important community within our state like we do the paper pushers at ADOA (Arizona Department of Administration)…. Our job, that the Constitution tasks us with, is to provide the best possible education to deaf and blind children in our state.” He championed the Legislature’s efforts to ensure oversight at ASDB and stewardship of taxpayer resources.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 7, 2023 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A recent announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to briefly lower costs at American gas pumps may hamstring Arizona’s largest county’s efforts to reduce its ozone footprint.
Last Friday, the EPA issued “an emergency fuel waiver to allow E15 gasoline – gasoline blended with 15% ethanol – to be sold during the summer driving season.” According to the EPA, “the waiver will help protect Americans from fuel supply crises by reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels, building U.S. energy independence, and supporting American agriculture and manufacturing.” This action was made possible by The Clean Air Act, which “allows the EPA Administrator, in consultation with the Department of Energy, to temporarily waive certain fuel requirements to address shortages.”
The Biden Administration’s action on this front is not the first time they have attempted to reduce the cost of energy during the summer months. On April 29, 2022, the EPA also issued the waiver for E15 sales. The EPA’s most recent press release assured Americans the agency “does not expect any impact on air quality from this limited action (due to its own research),” and “consumers can continue to use E15 without concern that its use in the summer will impact air quality.”
This exploit from the federal government in 2022, however, sparked concerns about an increase in pollution for communities and states. In an interview with The Hill, Dan Becker director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity, argued against the action because it “defeats everything that we’re trying to do to prevent more fuel from evaporating and getting into the air.” Margo Oge, the former Director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said (of the waiver), “The administration shouldn’t have done this, and they know they shouldn’t have done this, because this program to reduce evaporative emissions and keep the more volatile gasoline mixtures away from the summer months, has been in operation for decades.”
Becker also addressed the narrative of lower or neutral ozone impact from the waiver, referring to such rhetoric as a “long history of creative truth,” adding, “the amount of evaporation is not linear. In other words, E15 does not evaporate one and a half times as much as E10.”
Despite the EPA’s waiver that could lead to more ozone being released into the atmosphere, the agency continues to force local governments into extreme ozone-cutting measures. As AZ Free News reported last month, the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) recently contracted with a California-based consulting firm to “identify and evaluate new and available ozone precursor control measures that could be implemented within the nonattainment area” – which is an “eight-hour ozone boundary for the 2015 ozone standard (2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standard),” following a little-discussed published rule from the EPA in fall 2022, which moved “the region up the severity ladder for ozone pollution, reclassifying the region from ‘marginal’ to ‘moderate’ nonattainment for the ozone pollution standard.”
The consultant’s Final Report this spring suggested “approximately 50% reduction in nonattainment area anthropogenic NOx and VOC emissions” in order to bring the region into compliance with the EPA’s standard by an August 3, 2024, deadline.
To meet this deadline, suggested measures were included to reduce ozone in the Maricopa Nonattainment Area to meet Clean Air Act requirements related to the 2015 ozone standard. Some of the suggested measures include adopting standards similar to California like banning the internal combustion engine, banning gas appliances, and a host of regulations on various business activities.
The Republican-led Arizona Legislature has already moved to counter these potential measures, launching the Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Committee on Air Quality and Energy to “gather information from experts and the public about local recommendations on rulemaking determinations by the EPA on ozone nonattainment.” Representative Gail Griffin, the co-chair of the Committee, weighed in on the EPA’s announcement, telling AZ Free News, “E15 gasoline is known to increase ground-level smog, The EPA’s decision to allow E15 gasoline to be sold in Arizona is going to increase ozone levels in our state; then the EPA will turn around and penalize Arizona for the ozone. It’s counterproductive. Any increase in air pollution that results from the EPA’s decision shouldn’t count against us in our compliance with federal air quality requirements. It’s unfortunate to have a federal government that is constantly working against us.”
Senator Frank Carroll, a member of the Committee, told AZ Free News, “So, what exactly is the end game for the Biden EPA? Science indicates that this approach is not in the best interest of clean air, fuel economy, and bees. We can certainly hope to expect a reduction in the price at the pump. Keep in mind that it was Biden’s energy policy and his foreign policy that got us to the higher prices. With 2024 election campaigns off and running, the waiver of E15 sales by the EPA is a political calculation that assumes people have short term memories about why we’re at high gas prices and high grocery prices. I think it is time to end bad policies by voting out the bad policymakers.”
Carroll also shared his insights on the impact the E15 waiver would have on Arizonans:
- The EPA estimates that E15 is on average 25 cents a gallon cheaper than E10. Considering the economic times we are living in, will 25 cents a gallon stay in your pocket or evaporate at the grocery store? The price of tortillas and tamales increase when demand for ethanol increases.
- Ethanol fuel will damage engines. The design characteristics of internal combustion engines usually favor gasoline fuel or favor ethanol fuel. Ethanol shortens the shelf life of fuel, reacts with moisture causing particles and corrosion in fuel systems and engines, especially pre-2002.
- Even in engines that can operate on ethanol blends, there is a problem, energy density – a gallon of ethanol has only 2/3 the energy density of pure gasoline. You will notice a reduction in fuel economy.
- Some areas in Arizona are subject to Clean Air Act emission offset requirements. Adding ozone to the air only makes meeting the requirements less likely. (Check out April 24, 2023, Joint Legislature Ad Hoc Committee on Air Quality and Energy).
Another Republican member of the Committee, Representative Austin Smith, also opined on the Biden Administration’s desperate efforts to reduce gas prices, saying, “Addressing energy affordability and the rising cost of living in our country is paramount. But this is the wrong way to do it. We need to increase domestic energy production and lift federal regulations across all sectors, not just the areas that serve special interests. The Biden Administration is not paying attention to the needs of Arizonans.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
