REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTION: save citizens initiative and stop voter suppression

Coming up at the Arizona Legislature this week are more than 100 bills associated with voting and elections, and most of those bills are erecting impediments or continuing the big lie with odd and unnecessary requirements. Please, weigh in on some of these bills before they go to a vote in committee.

The GOP, with a small majority, is passing these bills to make it difficult to vote because they know they don’t represent most Arizonans. The one recourse we have is to get bills that represent our interests on the ballot through the initiative process. That right is protected in the Arizona constitution, but that won’t stop the GOP trying to make it harder with HCR2014 and HCR2015. Please, weigh in on the Request to Speak system before they go to a vote at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

HCR2014 initiative; referendum; signatures; legislative districts (Dunn) refers to the ballot a measure that would require collection of signatures from each legislative district proportionately. This would make it very difficult to get a measure on the ballot. OPPOSE
HCR2015 initiatives; supermajority vote; requirement (Dunn: Biasiucci, Bolick et al.) refers to the ballot a measure to require 60 percent approval for any ballot measure. This is a high bar and would limit this important constitutional right. OPPOSE

If you don’t have time to leave comments, just show your opposition with a thumbs down.

Monday, February 7th

Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM

SB1058 drive- up voting; prohibition (Rogers) prohibits allowing voters to vote from a vehicle or using a ballot drop box outside of a polling place, voting center or county recorder or elections department office OPPOSE.
SB1298 government mask mandate; prohibition (Rogers) prohibits government entities from requiring masks to prevent spread of COVID. OPPOSE
SB1358 hand counts; precincts; procedures manual (Townsend: Livingston, Rogers, et al.) requires ballots in counties using voting centers to be separated and grouped by precinct for the purpose of a hand count audit. This is more of the same nonsense to unnecessarily question ballots from voting centers. OPPOSE
SB1404 eligibility; early voting; list (Gowan) severely restricts eligibility to vote an early ballot. Repeals the Active Early Voting List and the authorization for a county recorder to establish on-site early voting locations. OPPOSE
SB1457 voting machines; hardware; software; access (Borrelli: Barto, Fann, et al.) requires the Secretary of State to ensure that certified vote recording and tabulating machines and devices meet certain security standards, don't have internet connectivity, support the tracking of users based on unique credentials. Again, this is a bill to further the big lie narrative. OPPOSE
SB1474 voting; election day only; holiday (Townsend: Burges, Fillmore) establishes the primary and general election days as legal holidays. The catch is that early voting locations or voting centers are repealed. OPPOSE

Wednesday, February 9th

House Committee on Judiciary at 8:00 a.m.

HB2253 asbestos claims; required information; liability (Grantham) seeks to limit asbestos claims. That is just wrong. OPPOSE

House Committee on Government & Elections at 9:00 AM

HB2389 rulemaking review; time frame (Dunn) eliminates the requirement that agencies certify that they provided the public with an opportunity to comment when they submit a rulemaking package. OPPOSE
HB2492 voter registration; verification; citizenship (Hoffman: Blackman, Carter, et al.) requires proof of citizenship, location, etc. for registering to vote. OPPOSE
HB2602 polling places; emergency voting centers (Bolick: Biasiucci, Blackman, et al.) limits a county's ability to establish emergency voting centers. To do so, there must be a huge emergency such as war or civil unrest. This is ridiculous. OPPOSE
HB2617 voter registration; cancellations; causes (Chaplik: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) lays out additional requirements for cancelling voter registration, including finding out someone has a driver's license in another state. That seems weak as people sometimes take longer to change their licenses. OPPOSE
HCR2014 initiative; referendum; signatures; legislative districts (Dunn) refers to the ballot a measure that would require collection of signatures from each legislative district proportionately. This would make it very difficult to get a measure on the ballot. (Listed above too) OPPOSE
HCR2015 initiatives; supermajority vote; requirement (Dunn: Biasiucci, Bolick et al.) refers to the ballot a measure to require 60 percent approval for any ballot measure. This is a high bar and would limit this important constitutional right. (Listed above) OPPOSE

Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, & Water at 2:00 PM

SCM1003 Grand Canyon; monuments; rename (Boyer: Borrelli, Bowie, et al.) asks the Board on Geographic Names to rename geographic features in Grand Canyon with traditional Native American names. SUPPORT

DIRECTIONS FOR REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS

Sign on to your Request to Speak account, click the blue Request to Speak button, click on New Request in the nav bar (left column), then simply cut and paste the bill number into Search Phrase (for example: HCR2014). Push blue Add Request button, weigh in FOR or AGAINST, click No on Do you wish to speak? (in person), leave a short Comment, and click on SUBMIT. For another submission, click on the New Request link in the nav bar on the left and follow the directions above.

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, go ahead and set one up, but someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol. Reach out to Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.