by Daniel Stefanski | Feb 8, 2025 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A key proposal to better support Arizona State law enforcement officers passed its first legislative hurdle.
On Monday, the Arizona House Committee on Public Safety & Law Enforcement approved HB 2386 to “establish a pay parity system for Department of Public Safety (DPS) Troopers, ensuring their compensation is competitive with Arizona’s largest county and municipal law enforcement agencies. According to the release issued by the Arizona House Republicans, this bill would “strengthen recruitment and retention efforts, helping DPS attract and retain top-tier law enforcement personnel to protect Arizonans.”
State Representative David Marshall, who sponsored the proposal, issued a statement on the passage of his bill, saying, “Our Troopers put their lives on the line every day to keep our highways safe, combat drug trafficking, and take violent criminal off the streets. HB 2386 ensures they are paid fairly and competitively, just like their counterparts in county and municipal agencies. It’s common sense – Arizona can’t afford to lose highly trained law enforcement officers due to pay disparities.”
Marshall added, “This bill is about standing with our Troopers and making sure they have the support they need to do their jobs effectively. If we’re serious about protecting public safety, then we need to be serious about taking care of those who serve and protect us.”
In the House Committee on Public Safety & Law Enforcement, HB 2386 sailed through with an overwhelmingly 13-0 bipartisan vote. Two Democrats voted “present” on the legislation.
The bill “requires DPS to annually establish pay benchmarks based on the salaries and benefits of law enforcement agencies in Arizona’s three largest counties.” Information from the Arizona House of Representatives reveals that “by utilizing exisiting funds in the Parity Compensation Fund, the legislation provides a structured and responsible approach to maintaining competitive DPS salaries without additional strain on the state’s general fund.”
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from the Arizona State Troopers Association, Fraternal Order of Police (Arizona State Lodge), and the Arizona Police Association signed in to support the bill. A representative from Arizona National Organization for Women signed in to oppose the proposal.
HB 2386 now awaits an up-or-down vote from the full body in the Arizona House of Representatives.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Nov 27, 2024 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Since the results of the 2024 election came in, much of the focus has been on President-elect Donald Trump’s historic win—and rightfully so. Trump won every single swing state in a massive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, and he beat her in the popular vote too.
But Kamala Harris wasn’t the only significant loser to come out of November’s election.
Here in Arizona, teachers’ unions and other anti-school choice groups, like Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ), made the 2024 election a referendum on school choice. And they lost big!
Much of their work began earlier this year, when Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs came into legislative session (just like she did in 2023) with her top priority being to regulate the wildly popular Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program out of existence. But it didn’t work. Despite the noise from Hobbs, legislative Democrats, the legacy media, the teachers’ unions, and other anti-school choice groups, only minor changes were made to the ESA program through the budget, with most of it remaining untouched.
This failure fell on the heels of other similar failures…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 24, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Republican members of the Arizona Legislature recently received their committee assignments as lawmakers eye the start of the quickly approaching session in January.
Earlier this month, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen announced the members of his caucus who would chair and co-chair the committees within his chamber.
Senator John Kavanagh will chair the Committee on Appropriations, while Senator David Farnsworth will be the vice chair. Senator Farnsworth will chair the Committee on Education, while Senator-Elect Carine Werner will be the vice chair. Senator J.D. Mesnard will chair the Committee on Finance, while Senator-Elect Vince Leach will be the vice chair. Werner will chair the Committee on Health & Human Services, while Senator T.J. Shope will be the vice chair. Senator David Gowan will chair the Committee on Military & Border, while Senator Janae Shamp will be the vice chair. Shope will chair the Committee on Natural Resources, while Senator-Elect Tim Dunn will be the vice chair. Senator-Elect Mark Finchem will chair the Committee on Federalism, while Senator-Elect Hildy Angius will be the vice chair. Senator Wendy Rogers will chair the Committee on Judiciary & Elections, while Kavanagh will be the vice chair. Senator Jake Hoffman will chair the Committee on Government, while Rogers will be the vice chair. Senator-Elect Kevin Payne will chair the Committee on Public Safety, while Angius will be the vice chair. Senator Shawnna Bolick will chair the Committee on Regulatory Affairs, while Senator Frank Carroll will be the vice chair.
On the House side, committee leadership assignments were announced six days after their Senate Republican counterparts.
Representative John Gillette will chair the Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections Committee, while Representative Rachel Jones will be the vice chair. Representative Walt Blackman will chair the Government Committee, while Representative Lisa Fink will be the vice chair. Representative Selina Bliss will chair the Health & Human Services Committee, while Representative Ralph Heap will be the vice chair. Representative Tony Rivero will chair the International Trade Committee, while Representative Michele Peña will be the vice chair. Representative Quang Nguyen will chair the Judiciary Committee, while Representative Khyl Powell will be the vice chair. Representative Lupe Diaz will chair the Land, Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee, and Peña will be the vice chair. Representative Gail Griffin will be the chair of the Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee, and Representative Chris Lopez will be the vice chair. Representative David Marshall will be the chair of the Public Safety & Law Enforcement Committee, and Representative Pamela Carter will be the vice chair. Representative Laurin Hendrix will be the chair of the Rules Committee, while Representative Neal Carter will be the vice chair. Representative Leo Biasiucci will be the chair of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, while Representative Teresa Martinez will be the vice chair. Representative Beverly Pingerelii will be the chair of the Science & Technology Committee, while Representative Justin Wilmeth will be the vice chair. Representative Justin Olson will be the chair of the Ways & Means Committee, while Representative Nick Kupper will be the vice chair.
President Petersen’s leadership style is on full display in his latest assignments for the Senate Republicans. Over the past two terms, he has weathered two challenges from Senator David Gowan, including an extremely competitive campaign in 2022. However, despite the repeat match-up, Petersen has twice assigned Gowan to lead the Committee on Military & Border. This magnanimous treatment has helped unite the caucus, focusing members on the task at hand of stopping Governor Katie Hobbs’ radical agenda from taking hold in Arizona.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Nov 23, 2024 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Though most attention was directed at the top of the ticket in the 2024 election, many groups on the Left waged high stakes on flipping Arizona’s barely Republican-controlled legislature.
In the two years since the 2022 election, when Republicans dwindled to 31 members of the 60-member House and 16 members in the 30-member Senate, Democrats have been busily planning and building their election takeover. After sweeping the top 3 statewide offices, including the Governorship, 2024 was the inflection point in the story of how Arizona went from red – to purple – to blue.
But that didn’t happen.
Under the leadership of Governor Hobbs and an orbit of well-funded organizations that raised upwards of $10 million to target key swing districts in Arizona, the Left failed to secure their legislative victories. Instead, the Republican-controlled Arizona House and Senate, in fact, expanded their majorities. Despite being outspent in every single race, Republicans now hold 33 members in the House and 17 members in the Senate, a small but meaningful gain. It’s a disaster for Katie Hobbs, who is already fighting low favorability and criticism by her own party for her inability to best Republican legislative leadership and rack up any wins for the Left’s agenda…
>>> CONTINUE READING >>>
by Daniel Stefanski | Nov 17, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona House Democrats will settle into a new term of office with fewer members in their caucus and a revised leadership team.
On Tuesday, Democrats in the Arizona House of Representatives elected a team of members to lead their caucus over the next two years. They selected Representative De Los Santos as the House Minority Leader, Representative Nancy Gutierrez as House Minority Assistant Leader, and Representatives Quantá Crews and Stacey Travers as House Minority co-Whips.
“It’s an honor to be chosen to lead this outstanding caucus,” De Los Santos said. “This is a strong, smart and experienced team who will fight for you, for your public schools, for your rights, for our state’s precious resources, for your bottom line and for your neighborhood. We have tremendous challenges ahead as state, and as a country, but we will not back down from extremism, and we will face them together.”
Travers acknowledged her election as one of the Minority Whips, writing, “Thank you to everyone at AZ LD 12 Democrats who worked so hard, and above and beyond to help us get re-elected!”
The four Democrats are some of the most liberal in the Arizona House of Representatives. De Los Santos, Gutierrez, and Crews have a 0% Lifetime score according to the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. Travers has a 2% score.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
