by AZ Free News | Feb 16, 2021 | Education, News
After a heated floor discussion on Monday, the Arizona State Senate passed Senate Bill 1452, a bill which will expand educational opportunities for children from low-income homes. The bill passed long party lines.
The bill, if passed in the Arizona State House, is expected to bring educational choice options to an estimated 700,000 low income students who are currently part of the Federal free and reduced lunch program and/or are attending Title I schools.
Earlier this month, prominent leaders from the Phoenix valley’s Black community gathered at the Arizona Capitol in support of the bill and school choice for minority children.
“School Choice is an extension of the civil rights movement because it gives parents, especially low-income and minority parents, the rights and resources to choose any school their child needs. School Choice equals freedom.” – Rev. H.K. Matthews
Democrats argued that the bill would take money away from the currently mostly closed public schools. Across the state, public schools have been forced to deny educational opportunities to students due to resistance from teachers, who are refusing to return to their classrooms.
The American Federation for Children cites data showing that low-income students are anticipated to be up to 12 months behind by the end of this current school year. SB1452 will give low-income parents resources and funds to find an in-person private school, join micro-schools, hire tutors and teachers, purchase homeschooling curriculum, and pay transportation costs.
“This extension to Arizona’s ESA program is so badly needed right now due to the COVID school closures. Thank you to Senator Paul Boyer for sponsoring this crucial legislation and thank you to the Republican caucus in the Senate for passing this bill in the best interest of low-income parents and children all over the state,” said Steve Smith, Arizona State Director for the American Federation for Children, in a press release. “But most of all, thank you to civil rights icon, Rev. H.K. Matthews for his powerful words quoted today during the senate debate, as well as minority leaders across the state. Your willingness to advocate for equality and justice on behalf of minority and low-income families is nothing short of inspiring. We look forward to working with our Arizona Representatives in the House to make every education option available to the children who need the most help right now.”
by AZ Free News | Feb 15, 2021 | News
Monday afternoon the Arizona Senate Committee on Government will consider a bill sponsored by Sen. Victoria Steele (D-LD9) that would prohibit a municipality or county from issuing a single-family residential building permit unless there is a special dedicated outlet for charging an electric vehicle in a garage or within 10 feet of the home’s parking area.
Under SB1102, a residential building permit could not be issued for new construction or an addition if the structure does not have a 208/240 volt, 50-ampere, NEMA 14-50 branch circuit. The required electrical work could cost up to $2,000 depending on where the home is located.
The exceptions in Steele’s bill include building permits issued for a manufactured home, a residential structure of less than 1,000 square feet, and a residential structure whose main electric service would exceed 200 ampere with the addition of a 50-ampere circuit. The bill is opposed by the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona.
SB1102 also appropriates $1,000,000 from the state’s FY22 general fund to the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) to help support electric vehicle charging options. One-half of the funds would go to a Ready Home Pilot Program to establish guidelines and standards for the installation of a high voltage electric vehicle charging outlet.
The program would also reimburse the owner of a single-family or multifamily residential structure for the cost -up to $1,000- of installing the outlet, until the appropriated funds are exhausted.
The other $500,000 appropriated by Steele’s bill would be used by ADOA to conduct a two-year “Charging Station Pilot Program” under which state agencies could apply for funds to install electric vehicle charging stations at agency locations.
The program would also allow private entities to install and operate a retail fee-based electric vehicle charging station at various state properties, including the Legislature and property under the jurisdiction of the Arizona Board of Regents.
However, Sen. Jamescita Peshlakai (D-LD7) put forth a proposed amendment on Feb. 12 which would make the charging outlet an option, not a requirement, to obtain a building permit. The amendment also drops the provision in Steele’s bill about allowing private operation of a retail fee-based electric vehicle charging station on state-controlled property.
If SB1102 -as introduced or amended- makes it out of the Government Committee it must then get past the Appropriations and Rules Committees, neither of which are scheduled to consider the bill this week.
by AZ Free News | Feb 14, 2021 | News
A state senate committee will discuss a bill Monday that protects individuals, businesses, schools, medical providers, and the government from civil liability for actions taken in response to public health pandemics unless a litigant can prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that willful misconduct or gross negligence was involved.
The bill, SB1377, sponsored by Sen. Vince Leach (R-LD11) would be retroactive to March 11, 2020, the date Gov. Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19. Its passage out of the Senate Rules Committee is seen as a sure thing after the Senate Committee on Judiciary passed it last week on a 5 to 3 vote.
Leach has said he introduced the bill to ensure a presumption that any person or “provider” acted in good faith to protect a customer, student, tenant, volunteer, patient, guest or neighbor, or the public from injury or loss through reasonable attempts to comply with rely on published guidance issued by a federal or state agency in connection to a public health pandemic.
“Unfortunately, there will always be people who will try to take advantage of the situation and file reckless lawsuits,” Leach said after the judiciary committee vote. “I hope this legislation will give people the assurance that if they’re following health and safety precautions, they won’t be hit with a nuisance lawsuit.”
Under the legislation, a provider is defined as a person who furnishes consumer or business goods or services or entertainment, as well as an educational institution or district, school district or charter school, property owner, property manager or property lessor or lessee, a nonprofit organization, a religious institution, a state or a state agency or instrumentality, a local government or political subdivision (including a department, agency or commission), a service provider, a health professional, or a health care institution.
Anyone wishing to claim an “injury, death or loss to person or property” based on a failure to protect the litigant from the effects of the public health pandemic must be able to show the person or provider acted with “willful misconduct or gross negligence.” The liability protection also includes inactions which are alleged to have caused harm.
by AZ Free News | Feb 12, 2021 | News
PHOENIX – Newly-elected Senator Mark Kelly stunned moderate Democrats and Republicans during the recent “vote-a-rama,” in which the U.S. Senate began the process to pass a COVID-19 relief bill via reconciliation.
While a majority of Arizonans believe that abortion should only be legal in some cases, Kelly came out in favor of denying lifesaving care to children who survive abortions.
“Senator Kelly’s vote against compassionate legislation to protect babies born alive after failed abortions is deeply disturbing and out of step with Arizona pro-life values,” said Mallory Quigley, spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony List. “This popular, common ground legislation to provide lifesaving care to children who survive abortions should have easily passed. Arizona voters are watching and looking ahead to 2022. We will ensure Arizonans do not forget that their newly-elected senator failed to stand up for the most vulnerable. Mark Kelly is too extreme for Arizona.”
A large majority of Americans believe babies born alive during failed abortions should be protected under the law. That majority is even larger in Arizona.
A new report by Tessa Longbons, a research associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), shows that protections for babies who survive abortions are inconsistent across the United States, with fewer than half of states maintaining sufficient protections. However, Arizona has been on the forefront of laws protecting mothers and babies including those survivors of botched abortions.
A bill proposed by Arizona State Rep. Walt Blackman that would criminalize abortion was soundly condemned by both pro-life and pro-choice groups reflecting the more moderate stand on the issue.
by AZ Free News | Feb 11, 2021 | News
The Arizona State Commerce Committee has passed Rep. Jeff Weninger’s HB2772, which will make sports betting legal in Arizona on a 9-1 vote. The bill was supported by Gov. Doug Ducey, numerous sports teams and Native American tribes.
Sen. TJ Shope is running a mirror of the bill in the Senate.
The bills would allow pro sports teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks and tribes that already run casinos to have sports betting operations, according to an Associated Press report.
The bills would legalize fantasy sport betting from online operators, and it would allow new betting at horse racing tracks and groups like the VFW, which would be able to sell Keno tickets.
Ducey’s General Counsel Anni Foster testified in front of the Committee as to the status of current discussions with the tribes and asserted that the state already “has an agreement in principle” with them. That agreement is critical for the bill to take effect this year due to the fact that the Gaming Compact between the State and tribal governments essentially controls gaming in Arizona.
All federally recognized tribes in Arizona have a Gaming Compact with the State. The Compact with each of the 22 tribes is substantially identical.
The Compacts gave tribes exclusive rights to operate slot machines and casino style gaming, limited the number of slot machines and casinos, established comprehensive rules governing gaming, and set minimum internal control standards for casino operations.
Rep. Pam Powers Hannley was the lone “no” vote. She expressed concerns about the lack of information about what data will be gathered from the bettors using the systems.
by Terri Jo Neff | Feb 10, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
The House Committee on Transportation is slated to consider a bill on Wednesday which would require an inflation adjustment for two state fuel taxes, prompting worries about the financial impact on drivers of what is essentially a tax increase.
Arizona Revised Statutes 28-5606A currently calls for an $.18 per gallon “motor fuel tax” on such fuel that is possessed, used, or consumed in the state, while ARS 28-5606B applies a $.18 per gallon “use fuel tax” for fuel used to propel light-class motor vehicles.
HB2436 would amend state law to mandate an annual adjustment to each tax beginning July 1, 2022, to “reflect the average annual change in the Consumer Price Index published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
The annual inflation adjustment would also apply to the current $.26 per gallon use fuel tax for a use-class motor vehicle, defined in state law as a road tractor, truck tractor, truck or passenger carrying vehicle having a declared gross vehicle weight of more than twenty-six thousand pounds or having more than two axles.
HB2436 leaves in place a current $.09 per gallon use fuel tax for vehicles propelled by non-alternative fuels for the transport forest products without adjusting for inflation. That provision of ARS 28-5606 expires in Dec. 2024.
The two state fuel taxes are in addition to optional taxes that each of Arizona’s 15 counties can enact for roadway and transportation needs. State use fuel taxes does not apply to alternative fuels.
The bill introduced by committee chairman Rep. Frank Carroll (R-LD22) and co-sponsored by committee vice-chair Rep. Justin Wilmeth (R-LD15).
