by AZ Free News | Jan 13, 2021 | News
Arizona’s legislators have a lot on their plates with this week’s start of the new session. Yet while many are focused on financially strapped small businesses, election integrity issues, and getting schools reopened, Senator Kirsten Engel is concerned about paper and plastic bags.
At issue are the kind of bags used by thousands of people every day along with other types of “auxiliary containers” such as cans, bottles, boxes, and cups to take merchandise or food from a business. But those businesses could be forced to come up with new options if a bill introduced by Engel, a Democrat from Tucson, passes.
Engel is the sponsor of SB1132, which seeks to repeal ARS § 9-500.38, the state law which prohibits cities and towns from regulating auxiliary containers. The bill has not yet had its First Read during the new legislative session.
In 2016, the Arizona Legislature deemed the regulation of the use and disposition of auxiliary containers to be a matter of statewide concern. There is nothing on Engel’s website explaining why she believes it is important to allow every city or town to set its own container rules.
But the result, especially for companies with stores or restaurants in multiple cities or towns across Arizona, would likely be chaos, as well as higher costs. For instance, without ARS § 9-500.38, it would be possible for a Target store in Tucson to be prohibited from utilizing single-use plastic bags, while the Target store in Sierra Vista has no such restriction.
Or a grocery store in Florence could be forced to use paper bags constructed of a certain percentage of recycled products while a store for the same chain in Flagstaff could be required to use bags with a different percent.
The owner of several restaurant franchises in Pima County was surprised to find a Tucson-area senator pushing for the change.
“This is not a business friendly bill,” he said. “It seems like someone hasn’t thought this through very well, or just doesn’t want Arizona to be business-friendly.”
Despite ARS § 9-500.38, the City of Bisbee changed its city code in 2016 to ban retail businesses from utilizing single-use plastic bags. The city code included a fine of up to $500 per violation.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich was asked at the time by Sen. Warren Petersen to investigate the city’s code. In October 2017, Brnovich issued an opinion that the code conflicted with -and thus violated- state law, the same law Engel now seeks to do away with.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jan 12, 2021 | News
By the AZ Free Enterprise Club |
PHOENIX – On Monday, Governor Doug Ducey, in his State of the State address, called for the need to “think big” on lowering and reforming taxes.
“My goal has been to make Arizona the best place in America to live, work, and do business – by letting Arizonans keep more of their hard-earned money,” said Ducey, “and having come this far, as other states chase away opportunity with their new taxes, why on earth would we ever want to follow their failed and depressing example?”
“Arizona is now a high-tax state with one of the highest income tax rates, sales tax rates, and business property tax rates in the country,” said Arizona Free Enterprise Club President Scot Mussi. “Bold and swift action needs to be taken to right Arizona’s competitive disadvantage, and the Club is glad to see the governor leading on the issue.”
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club, a nonprofit organization devoted to reducing the income and property tax burden in Arizona, has joined other interested parties in a lawsuit against the latest tax hike embodied in Proposition 208 (Prop 208).
On November 30, 2020, attorneys at the Goldwater Institute, Snell & Wilmer, and Greenberg Traurig filed suit on behalf of a coalition of taxpayers, legislators, and small business groups such as the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, to challenge the legality of Prop 208 and to protect Arizona taxpayers against what they say is an “illegal and ill-conceived measure.”
According to the court background materials, “in the fall of 2020, a group of out-of-state unions and special interest groups placed an initiative on the Arizona ballot designed to raise taxes by nearly $1 billion. Although sold as a measure that would only raise taxes on the rich, in reality the tax falls on middle-class wage-earners, particularly owners of small businesses. In fact, half of the people subjected to the tax would be small business owners.”
Should Prop 208 survive legal challenges, critics claim it would “likely drive businesses out of the state and to slow business growth, resulting in the long term in some 124,000 fewer new jobs over the next decade, and a loss of $2.4 billion in state and local taxes.”
by AZ Free News | Jan 7, 2021 | Education, News
CHANDLER — On Monday, parents of over 46,000 Chandler school students were sent scrambling after Chandler Unified School District leaders opted to return to virtual learning. Students were expected to return to in-person learning on Tuesday.
Those plans changed in response to statements made by Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman that the schools were not safe last week.
Hoffman has been accused of fear mongering. Critics say her claims are baseless due to the fact that there is no evidence that young students are super-spreaders of the COVID-19 virus. In fact, the Centers For Disease Control have urged state officials to open school doors.
Parents urged district officials on Monday to follow through with the in-person learning plans. However, their pleas were not only ignored, the governing board voted to lower the threshold for the percent of positive cases on a campus that will trigger future returns to virtual learning.
RELATED EDUCATION NEWS:
[feedzy-rss feeds=”https://campusreform.org/RSS/” max=”6″ offset=”0″ feed_title=”no” refresh=”12_hours” lazy=”no” summary=”no” thumb=”no” price=”no” columns=”2″ template=”style1″ ]
[feedzy-rss feeds=”https://www.mindingthecampus.org/feed/” max=”6″ offset=”0″ feed_title=”no” refresh=”12_hours” lazy=”no” summary=”no” thumb=”no” price=”no” columns=”2″ template=”style1″ ]
[feedzy-rss feeds=”https://campusreform.org/RSS/” max=”2″ offset=”8″ feed_title=”no” refresh=”12_hours” lazy=”no” summary=”no” thumb=”no” price=”no” columns=”2″ template=”style1″ ]
[feedzy-rss feeds=”https://www.mindingthecampus.org/feed/” max=”4″ offset=”8″ feed_title=”no” refresh=”12_hours” lazy=”no” summary=”no” thumb=”no” price=”no” columns=”2″ template=”style1″ ]
