Request to Speak by 8 a.m. Monday on tax breaks for the rich and gun lobbyist and a bad environmental bill

HB2656, sponsored by Jake Hoffman (R-12), would ban financial institutions and their contractors from "discriminating" against someone based on their political affiliation or social or environmental values. This would force the continuation of the Trump-era push to ensure that polluters and gun makers get equal access to financial services. This is absurd. Unlike race, religion or gender, someone’s political opinion isn’t covered by fair lending statute. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

SB1372, sponsored by Tyler Pace (R-25), would create a loophole allowing anyone who lives outside of Arizona to buy a vehicle free of sales tax. Currently vehicles must be shipped out of state to be eligible for a sales tax waiver, which is bad enough. Nearly 400,000 new vehicles are purchased in Arizona each year, and the average price of a vehicle is now over $40,000, meaning each tax credit would cost the general fund an average of $2500. However, this loophole is targeted to the wealthy (those who could afford to fly to Arizona, buy a car and drive it home), so the cost of the cars they purchase, and thus the cost to Arizona's general fund, is likely higher than that average. Scheduled for Senate Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HB2166, sponsored by Steve Kaiser (R-15), would exempt guns and "firearm safety equipment" from sales tax. The sponsor calls them “necessities” and wants them subjected to the same tax rate as food. America’s self-destructive gun fetish has produced a record of home-grown violence unheard of in any other industrialized society. The bill’s fiscal note says the exemption would cost the state $6.4 million a year, most of which is the firearms exemption; the note also warns the estimate may be on the short side of what it would actually cost. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HB2646, sponsored by Travis Grantham (R-12), would require the average fair market value of private aircraft to be tied to inflation, benchmarks that value to rates in 2019, and qualifies people who currently pay aircraft license tax if they paid more. The bill currently has no fiscal note to estimate the cost to the state general fund, and thus to taxpayers. Grantham also introduced a bill last year to waive all private planes from taxation. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HCR2028, sponsored by Walter Blackman (R-6), would ask voters to amend the Arizona Constitution to set a minimum amount that cities and counties could collectively spend on law enforcement, adjusted only for population and inflation. Very similar to the public school spending cap that’s causing so much trouble right now. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

HCR2031, sponsored by Regina Cobb (R-5), would ask voters to amend the Arizona Constitution to make the regulation of employee benefits, including wages, a statewide issue, and ban cities and towns from further regulating them. Legislators have been trying to penalize the city of Flagstaff for years for setting a higher minimum wage than the state-mandated one. They imposed a $1.1 million fine for the city in last year’s budget. Several months ago, a judge blocked that fine from taking effect. Scheduled for House Rules Committee, Monday. OPPOSE.

REQUEST TO SPEAK DIRECTIONS:

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: HB2728). 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.