Say "Hell NO!" to taking away Tucson's vote!

Urge Speaker of the House Ben Toma NOT to bring SCR 1023 to a vote on the house floor. 

SCR 1023 would repeal a provision of the Arizona Constitution that dates to territorial days that permits city voters to establish home rule. That enables them to make their own rules on matters of local concerns, such as how the local government is set up and how and when to run elections

Please, contact Rep. Ben Toma (District 27) & ask him not bring this disastrous bill to a vote in the COW.

Phone Number: 602-926-3298

Email: BToma@azleg.gov 

https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/56leg/1R/summary/S.SCR1023GOV.DOCX.htm

The GOP legislators want to make it pretty much impossible for us to vote!

Remember all their bills against mail-in voting!?

Over 80% of Tucsonans vote by mail. They don't want us to vote in Tucson! 

HB2229 would end mail-in voting except for military and overseas voters or voters temporarily living outside of the state. The bill text is straightforward: “Voting by mail is banned in this state.”

Remember these other bills that would make it difficult for us to vote?

HB2231 early absentee voting; limitations; conflicts (Harris: Heap, Jones, et al.) makes early voting into absentee voting and only allows someone to vote early under certain conditions. This would decrease voting significantly. 

HB2415 active early voting lists; removal (Biasiucci: Bliss, Carbone) removes voters from the active early voting list if they fail to vote early in one election cycle, instead of two. This will result in a significant purge of this list and in fewer people voting. 

 
SB1141 early ballot drop off; identification (Hoffman: Borrelli, Farnsworth, et al.) requires voter identification to just drop off an early ballot. This is unnecessary and will result in additional disenfranchisement. 

SB1566 voter registration; reregistration; ten years (Carroll: Gowan, Kaiser, et al.) Every 10 years everyone's voter registration will be removed from the rolls and they will be required to reregister. A nightmare for voters and the county recorders. 

The GOP wants to make the rules - so they can make it impossible for us to vote: 

SB1213 legislative council; procedures manual (Kern: Kolodin) substitutes legislative council for the secretary of state relative to the elections procedures manual. 

Hmm... Seems like they don't want us to vote... I wonder why?

More information: 

Amended bill seeks to strip Phoenix, Tucson city charters
Mesa also could have charter removed if voters have a say

Arizona Republicans Introduce Bills to Repeal Mail-in and Early Voting

Push back on Legislative Overreach on Voting, Water and Environmental Protections

Two bills that cut the public out of the process for certain transmission lines advanced out of the Senate Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee and will likely go to the floor of the Senate next week.

 

HB2437 transmission lines; applications; exceptions (Griffin) exempts a transmission line that is entirely on private land from being required to obtain a certificate of environmental compatibility from the Arizona Power Plant and Line Siting Committee, so there would be no environmental review.

 

HB2496 transmission lines; definition (Griffin) changes the definition of a transmission line to include lines that are more than one mile. This means they would have no review by the Arizona Power Plant and Line Siting Committee. We tried to get this amended to address our concerns, to provide a way to trigger review, but the bill sponsor would not even consider it.

 

Please contact your senator and ask them to oppose both HB2437 and HB2496!

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/Arizona?actionId=AR0383405

NOTE: a personal email or phone call is more effective with some senators. 

Contact information here: https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S

Please, sign in on the Request to Speak system to push back against legislative overreach including bills that make it more difficult to vote or enact environmentally sound policies on transportation and water conservation.

 

Sign in on Request to Speak system here:  https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Tuesday, March 14th

House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 2:00 PM

•  water resources; assistant director  (Petersen) requires the Department of Water Resources director to appoint an assistant director that only works with the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority on augmentation of water from other locations and instate storage. This would put even more resources into augmentation versus conservation. Why not have this person focus on that? Or on adjudications of water rights? Or on establishing additional active management areas or irrigation non-expansion areas? Or any of the myriad water issues that would help us better be prepared and help address our water shortages. This bill has no additional funding for this position either. OPPOSE
• SB1390 water infrastructure finance authority; amendments (Kerr) is a "trailer" bill for last year's massive bill on the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority that set up an augmentation program and provided some funding for water conservation. SB1390 changes the definition of eligible entities for the conservation grants to private entities and to natural resource conservation districts (NRCDs). The bill should be amended to add Tribes, but not to add NRCDs or private water companies. NRCDs represent industrial agriculture and large ranches, not the broader public and many have advocated against environmental protection. Private water companies are for profit entities, so they should not be accessing these public dollars to bump up their profits. OPPOSE

Wednesday, March 15th

House Committee on House Ways and Means at 9:00 AM

• SCR1018 prohibit tax; monitoring; vehicle mileage (Hoffman) refers to the ballot a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit any fees based on vehicle miles traveled. As we reduce reliance on gasoline and gasoline-powered vehicles, gas tax revenues will decrease and other ways to fund road maintenance are needed such as looking at vehicle miles traveled. OPPOSE

House Committee on Government at 9:30 AM

• SB1021 attorney general; legislature; legal challenges (Kavanagh) requires the attorney general to defend all laws passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. OPPOSE

House Committee on Municipal Oversight and Elections at 2:00 PM

• SB1074 election; contest; technical correction (NOW: tabulating equipment; standards; source codes) (Borrelli) prohibits the use of electronic voting equipment as the primary method for tabulating votes election unless certain requirements are met – and the requirements were written by someone who obviously has no knowledge or experience with cybersecurity or voting systems. Or, perhaps that’s the point: no electronic voting system could possibly meet the requirements of this bill. OPPOSE
• SB1095 early ballot envelope; notice (Carroll: Gowan: Livingston) requires an early ballot envelope to include a statement that says the election will be delayed if you return your ballot after the Friday before the election, which could discourage people returning early ballots. OPPOSE 
• SB1170 ballot drop boxes; prohibition (NOW: ballot drop boxes; requirements; appropriation) (Hoffman: Borrelli, Farnsworth, et al.) prohibits unmonitored drop boxes. OPPOSE
• SB1565 ballot processing; electronic adjudication; limitation (Carroll: Bennett, Gowan, et al.) prohibits the use of machines, devices, firmware or software that contain artificial intelligence or learning hardware, firmware or software for an election. This seems to be too broad since the AI may be part of the system to ensure ballot markings are more accurately tabulated. OPPOSE

Thursday, March 16th

Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Water at 9:30 AM

• HB2056 dry washes; permit program exemption (Diaz: Carbone, Dunn, et al.) says dry washes, arroyos, swales, etc. and other similar features on private property are exempt from state permitting relative to dredge and fill and are not considered protected surface waters. While the state does not currently have a dredge and fill program for washes, prohibiting these ephemeral waters from being protected is a bad idea as it could send a confusing message to those with washes through their property and it sends a very bad message about desert washes, failing to recognize their significant values, especially here in the Desert Southwest. OPPOSE
• HB2440 electric energy; power companies; priorities  (Griffin) requires electric utilities (both public service companies such as Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power and public power entities such as Salt River Project) to prioritize grid reliability and affordability in planning, procurement, etc. It requires that they provide electric service at just and reasonable rates. The latter requirement is unnecessary for public service corporations and also may create constitutional conflicts as the Arizona Constitution in Article 15, section 3, requires the Arizona Corporation Commission to establish just and reasonable rates. There is no reason to limit planning and procurement to just these two factors as there are significant other issues to be considered in planning, including sustainability. The ACC also has extensive integrated resource plan rules with which this provision may conflict and certainly will create confusion. OPPOSE
• HB2441 state tree; residential planning (Griffin) prohibits cities and counties from adopting or enforcing a land use regulation that prohibits or restricts the use of palo verde in a residential housing development. SUPPORT

Legislative Update and Request to Speak actions on bills that make it harder to vote

This week, legislators exempted themselves from the public records law and will now destroy emails to and from them and their staff after 90 days and texts immediately, passed a bill to try to allow for the destruction of desert washes on private property, and also advanced a bill to refer to the ballot a measure to make it more difficult to pass citizen initiatives that are constitutional amendments. The legislative majority also passed rules to limit debate on bills and vote explanation to shut down the minority party. It seems like some of these legislators forget that they are supposed to represent and work for the people.

Several bad bills were proposed that make it more difficult to vote or to enact a Citizens Initiative. Please, use the Request to Speak app on the state legislature website to register your opposition while they are still in committee. 

Sign in here: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

If you have not registered for the Request to Speak system, we encourage you to do so now as it will take a day or two for the account be activated at the Capitol. Here is a link for signing up. To learn more about how to use the Request to Speak System, you can sign up for one of the trainings sponsored by Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. Here is their sign up link.

Or check out these written instructions: 

http://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2018/03/request-to-speak-time.html

Monday, January 30th

Senate Committee on Elections at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

Presentation • Election Mechanics Part 2 by Shelby Busch, We the People AZ Alliance (more election conspiracies)

• SB1066 election mailings; third-party disclosures (Kavanagh) requires any nongovernmental entity that mails an official election-related document or looks like one to include the disclosure "not from a government agency" on the outside of the envelope. This is indirect way to try to discredit legitimate mailings from the League of Women Voters and others who do voter registration. OPPOSE
• SB1135 spoiled early ballots; election day (Kavanagh) requires an early ballot not delivered or mailed to the county recorder to be exchanged by the voter at a polling place by 7:00 p.m. on election day in order to be counted and valid and removes a voter who exchanges an early ballot for a regular ballot from the Active Early Voter List. It repeals a county board of supervisors' authority to establish the use of emergency voting centers. This would result in more people getting purged from the early voting list and having fewer voting opportunities. OPPOSE
• SB1141 early ballot drop off; identification (Hoffman: Borrelli, Farnsworth, et al.) requires additional voter ID to drop off an early ballot. This is unnecessary as they already have the signature verification. OPPOSE
• SB1170 ballot drop boxes; prohibition (Hoffman: Borrelli, Farnsworth, et al.) prohibits unmonitored drop boxes. OPPOSE

Wednesday, February 1st

Senate Committee on Government at 8:30 AM

• SCR1015 initiative; referendum; signatures; legislative districts (Mesnard: Bennett, Kaiser, et al.) refers to the ballot that would require a proportionate percentage of petition signatures from each legislative district to put a measure on the ballot. This would be extremely difficult and expensive and put ballot measures more in the hands of the wealthy. OPPOSE

House Committee on Municipal Oversight & Elections at 2:00 PM
Members of the public may access a livestream of the meeting here.

• HB2233 election contests; procedures (Harris: Jones, McGarr) allows early ballots to be challenged due to any inconsistencies in personal information or signature. This is unnecessary and will result in more delays as people frequently have changes in their signature due to illness, age, etc. Elected officials follow up on those and should not have to now also deal with a flood of individual challenges from election deniers. OPPOSE
• HB2304 voting locations; precinct-based (McGarr: Biasiucci, Jones) allows only precinct-based polling locations, so no early ballot locations that allow any county to vote. OPPOSE
• HB2307 elections; hand counting; machines; prohibition (McGarr: Biasiucci, Griffin, et al.) requires all ballots to be hand counted. This would take forever and be less accurate. OPPOSE
• HB2415 active early voting lists; removal (Biasiucci: Bliss, Carbone) removes voters from the active early voting list if they fail to vote early in one election cycle, instead of two. This will result in a significant purge of this list and in fewer people voting. OPPOSE 

To weigh in on bills that affect our environment and water, go here: 

http://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2023/01/request-to-speak-on-bills-that-hurt.html

Sign the petition: Stop Arizona's voter suppression power grab

Arizona Republicans are hell-bent on passing voter suppression bills through the state legislature that assault our freedom to vote—and disproportionately hurt people of color.

While this a coordinated nationwide attack, Arizona has seen more such bills this year than any other state. A few have already passed the House, and are now in the Senate such as:

HB 2238 (Drop Box restrictions) would require drop boxes to be located in a facility at which election staff are present and monitoring the drop box. Otherwise, 24-hour video surveillance would be required. This defeats the purpose of drop-boxes.

HB 2786 (Assault on voter engagement) would severely restrict who can distribute an early ballot request form to voters. This is a direct assault on non-profit groups like Mi Familia Vota and Lucha Arizona who have successfully engaged Latino voters.

HB 2602 (Absentee voting) would eliminate emergency voting centers where voters can cast a ballot if they will be out of town or get sick on election day and have failed to return a mail in ballot, if they received one in the first place.

HB 2602 (Extreme vetting of voters) would create new, onerous requirements for the Arizona Secretary of State and county recorders to investigate and purge their voter rolls. County recorders would have to monitor drivers' licenses issued in other states and address changes monthly, such as affirm and reaffirm U.S. citizenship status.

We know what this is all about. Arizona Republicans are scared that their state is changing, and they are hell-bent on restricting the growing political power of Black and brown people.

And with the U.S. Senate having failed to override roadblocks to passing federal legislation to protect our freedom to vote, we are left having to defeat these outrageous bills in Arizona.

Sign and send the petition to your Arizona State Senators: VOTE NO on HB 2238, HB 2786, HB 2602, HB 2617 and all other outrageous attacks on our freedom to vote.

You can find the Daily Kos petition here: 

 
https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/letters/sign-and-send-the-petition-stop-arizonas-voter-suppression-power-grab?one

Here is a list of Arizona State Senators and their contact information:

https://www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster/?body=S

Request to Speak Actions: Safeguard our rights as Arizonans

Apparently some Arizona legislators think that they are the only ones entitled to vote since they keep proposing bills to limit our ability to vote or exercise our constitutional right to enact citizens initiatives or even protest their actions. Please, speak up on RTS to protect our rights in our democracy.

You can weigh in on the following bills being heard in committee this week before they go to a vote.

If you had an account with RTS previously, it is still active. If you do not have an account, you can set one up through Civic Engagement Beyond Voting.  (Someone will have to help you activate it as it requires going to the Capitol.)  



Monday, March 15th

Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM

HB2569 elections; private funding; prohibition (Hoffman: Barton, Biasiucci, et al) prohibits the state or other public bodies from utilizing any private dollars to help conduct or administer elections. This would severely hamstring the state and counties as they receive private grants and in-kind support to fund election work as the legislature does not adequately fund it. OPPOSE.

HCR2023 elections; state authority; infringement; opposition (Hoffman: Barton, Biasiucci, et al) says the AZ Legislature opposes the federal government interfering with the legislature's authority over elections and urges Congress to oppose HR1, a bill that would limit voter suppression and provide for automatic voter registration for federal elections, prohibit improper voter list purges, including based on not voting in a recent election, and prohibit requiring additional identification (beyond a signature) when voting by mail. OPPOSE.

 
Wednesday, March 17th

House Committee on Ways and Means at 9:00 AM

SCR1024 initiatives; tax increases; vote requirement (Petersen) refers to the voters a measure to require a two-thirds vote for certain initiatives and referenda that include tax increases. This is a reaction to Prop. 208. OPPOSE.

House Committee on Government & Elections at 9:00 AM

SB1003 early voting; signature required; notice (Ugenti-Rita) limits curing an early ballot with a missing signature to 7:00 PM on Election Day. Currently, they can take several days to contact voters to let them know they forgot to sign and allow them an opportunity to sign. This is unnecessarily restrictive. OPPOSE.
SB1010 (now: recounts; requests; procedures; audits) (Mesnard) increases the minimum number of precincts in a post-election hand counts and allows individuals to file an action and bond in Superior Court for a recount of any election or portion of an election that is not subject to an automatic recount. So, people with money can challenge any election and demand a recount? OPPOSE.
SB1409 zoning ordinances; property rights; costs (Petersen) requires cities to consider impacts on the costs of housing before adopting any zoning ordinance or zoning ordinance text amendment. While not as bad as it was, it is still intended to limit protective actions by the cities. OPPOSE.
SB1497 ballot measures; proposition 105; disclosure (Ugenti-Rita) requires the official ballot and the publicity pamphlet to include a Proposition 105 notice. This notice will appear right above both the first statutory measure and also right above the first referendum. The notice states, "NOTICE: PURSUANT TO PROPOSITION 105 (1998), THESE MEASURES CANNOT BE CHANGED IN THE FUTURE IF APPROVED ON THE BALLOT EXCEPT BY A THREE-FOURTHS VOTE OF THE MEMBERS OF EACH HOUSE OF THE LEGISLATURE AND IF THE CHANGE FURTHERS THE PURPOSE OF THE ORIGINAL BALLOT MEASURE, OR BY REFERRING THE CHANGE TO THE BALLOT." The Legislature should absolutely not put this on the actual ballot. The ballot is no place for messaging, analysis, etc. That belongs in campaign literature and in some cases may be appropriate for the publicity pamphlet. We do not put any other notices on the actual ballot, including fiscal analysis, why include this? OPPOSE.
SB1531 petition signatures; description; invalidity (Mesnard: Leach) voids the signature of any initiative or referendum petition signer that signs the petition without either hearing or reading the initiative or referendum description printed on the petition. This is another ridiculous requirement.
What if you actually had read the measure? Why should you have to read or hear the description? It also says the circulator has to cross out a signature if they think the person did not read or listen to the description. OPPOSE.

Thursday, March 18th

Senate Committee on Judiciary at 9:00 AM

HB2309 violent; disorderly assembly; public order (Roberts: Barton, Biasiucci, et al) defines a violent and disorderly assembly as when a gathering of seven or more people, with the intent of engaging in a riot, causes damage to property or injures another person; makes participating in a disorderly assembly a class 6 felony; and targets protesters by increasing the penalties of lower level offenses to a felony if part of a gathering. This is clearly targeting the movement for Black Lives and people of color. OPPOSE.

Don't let the AZ legislature bulldoze our voting rights and the ACC's environmental actions

It was a bad week for democracy at the Arizona Legislature as several committees and full House and Senate advanced bills to suppress votes (SB1593, HB2792, HB2793, HB2811), purge the Permanent Early Voting List (SB1485), and make ballot measures more difficult (SCR1024, HCR2001, HCR2016). They also moved forward with some bad energy and water bills.

The attacks on the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) and its clean energy rules inched forward with some amendments that fail to address the constitutional and public policy flaws. I know it gets a bit tiresome having to keep contacting your legislators about these bills, but I fear that if we let up, even a little bit, they will end up on the governor's desk.

HB2737 corporation commission actions; investigations (Parker: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) was on the House Committee of the Whole (COW) calendar twice, but did not move after they adjourned early for legislators to attend a conservative gathering. This bill allows any legislator to challenge an action by the ACC (with a few limits in the amendment), sending it to the attorney general who could take it directly to the Arizona Supreme Court. A successful challenge would result in a hit to the ACC budget, affecting its ability to fulfill its responsibilities to regulate utilities and other entities.

HB2248 corporation commission; electric generation resources (Griffin) was amended in COW and now specifically preempts the ACC from directly or indirectly reducing carbon emissions and it establishes the current low renewable energy standard. It is still unconstitutional and still bad policy. Sadly, the House Speaker, Representative Bowers, is strongly supporting the bill. HB2248's twin in the Senate, SB1175 corporation commission; electric generation resources (Kerr: Gowan, Gray, et al.), passed out of the Senate Rules committee and awaits floor action. Senator Fann, President of the Senate, expressed support for it.

One other bill, SB1459 agency decisions; administrative reviews (Petersen), is also advancing to make the ACC subject to the same administrative process as agencies. That is inappropriate as it is a separate branch of government, not just another agency.

Please use this link to ask your legislators to oppose all four bills. Also consider a phone call to your legislators. You can find the legislators' numbers here.

Stop Attacks on Ballot Measures

REQUEST TO SPEAK ACTIONS on (mostly) bad bills for the environment and citizens' rights

,

This week at the Arizona State Legislature, some Senators are trying (again) to silence us by making it harder for us to vote or to get a citizens initiative passed. We need to protect our constitutional rights.  

Tuesday, in the House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, & Water, Griffin is sponsoring yet another bill (HB2691) to weaken rules protecting water quality. They are also hearing a bill (HB2737) that threatens the Arizona Corporation Commission - just when the ACC has approved a plan for utilities to get all of their energy from carbon-free sources like solar and nuclear energy by 2050.

Also, there are a couple of good bills to support: SB1009 state vehicle fleet; electric vehicles and SCR1046 Arizona's outdoors; recreation; supporting

Please, weigh in on these bills while they are in committee by signing into the Request to Speak system.

Sign on to Request to speak: https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon  

Sign up for a Request to Speak account here:  

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdjBMoAJrjHD57GGegmdUCKAowcr93K4vQA6a7_AjyElBtrQ/viewform        

Monday, February 8th

Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 PM.

• SB1106 voting residency; intent to remain (Mesnard) makes it a class 6 felony for someone to register another person to vote solely for the purpose of voting in an election and without intent to stay. This is ridiculous. People may plan to move in six months, but still should be able to vote in an election here and the person registering them should be considered a felon. OPPOSE. 
• SB1531 petition signatures; description; invalidity (Mesnard: Leach) voids the signature of any initiative or referendum petition signer that signs the petition without either hearing or reading the initiative or referendum description printed on the petition. This is another ridiculous requirement. What if you actually had read the measure. Why should you have to read or hear the description? OPPOSE.
• SCR1034 voter protection act; court determinations (Leach) allows the Legislature to amend, supersede or appropriate or divert funds created by an initiative or referendum measure approved by the voters if the measure is found to be illegal or unconstitutional by the courts. This would allow the legislature to throw out an entire measure, even if a small part was successfully challenged. OPPOSE.

Senate Committee on Transportation and Technology at 2:00 PM

• SB1009 state vehicle fleet; electric vehicles (Steele) requires state fleets to be electric vehicles starting in 2022. SUPPORT.

Tuesday, February 9th

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

• HB2691 groundwater permits; technical correction (Griffin). This bill will have a strike-everything amendment on it relating to a water quality program. Without strengthening amendments, it would be unacceptable as it leaves nearly all ephemeral waters unprotected. OPPOSE.
• HB2737 corporation commission actions; investigation (Parker: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) allows any legislator to petition the attorney general to review any Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) decision that the legislator believes is beyond its constitutional mandate and allow the AG to force a review by the Supreme Court. If the Court disagrees with the ACC, the budget of the ACC would automatically be reduced by 10% for a year. This is clearly intended to chill actions by the ACC due to the threat of lost budget. OPPOSE.

Wednesday February 7th

House Committee on Government & Elections at 8:30 AM 

• HB2358 voter registration update; address change (Kavanagh: Bolick, Chaplik, et al.) mandates, rather than allows, the county recorder to use the national change of address system of the USPS and cancel registrations that have changed counties. This will purge a lot of otherwise eligible voters. OPPOSE. 
• HB2373 voter registration groups; forms; identifiers (Dunn) says that anyone who requests or receives 10 or more voter registration forms to place their unique identifier on each form. This will likely cause issues for those who register people more casually such as at high schools and in their neighborhood. It is unnecessary and punitive as it will make the registration invalid if someone forgets to include the identifier. OPPOSE
• HCR2016 initiatives; supermajority vote requirement (Dunn: Barton, Biasiucci, et al.) refers to the ballot a measure to require a 60 percent vote to approve any ballot measure. OPPOSE.

Senate Committee on Finance at 9:00 AM

• SCR1024 Initiatives; tax increases; vote requirement (Petersen) has a strike everything amendment on supermajority vote requirement; initiatives. The amendment is not posted, but we will certainly oppose any supermajority requirements for ballot measures. OPPOSE.

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

• SB1224 agricultural operations; nuisance; liability (Kerr) is the same as HB2372. OPPOSE.
• SCR1046 Arizona's outdoors; recreation; supporting (Engel: Alston, Bowie, et al.) is a memorial recognizing the value of outdoor recreation. SUPPORT.  

House Committee on Appropriations upon adjournment of Floor

• HB2394 appropriation; north-south corridor study (Cook) appropriates $5 million for a tier 2 north-south transportation study in Pinal County. More money for freeways. OPPOSE.

Democracy Threatened at the State Capitol: Request to Speak and Phone Call Actions

I hate to say it but some of our "Representatives" in the State Legislature have been busy trying to weaken our democracy. You can weigh in on their bills being heard in committee this week. (See committee hearing schedule below.)  

If you are signed up for the Request to Speak, login in here.  

Click on the blue Request to Speak button and then New Requests in the right column. Then paste the bill number. 

If you are not signed up, find the directions for signing up and navigating the system here.  Then you'll be prepared for future Request to Speak actions in the coming weeks.. 

Another resolution to make it more difficult to put measures on the ballot -- HCR2039 -- passed out of the House along party lines. In order to propose an initiative, this bill requires that every legislative district must contribute their 1/30 share of the percentage of voters needed to place an initiative on the ballot or amend the constitution. In other words, if enough voters in Tucson and Phoenix support an initiative to get it put on the ballot, but not enough voters in King County support the initiative, then it can't be put on the ballot. Essentially, petitions will have to be circulated statewide and, if you fail to get enough signatures in one district, the initiative will fail to make the ballot - even if 90% of voters in the rest of the state signed the petition. This will make an initiative or constitutional amendment impossible to get on the ballot. 

If your legislators are Republicans, you may want to express your disappointment and tell them you support direct democracy. 

You can find out who your state legislators are here. 

You can find their contact information here. 

Weigh in on the following bills before they are voted on in committee: 

Monday, March 9th

Senate Committee on Government at 2:00 P.M. 

• HB2054 GRRC; petition to request review (Biasiucci: Bolick) allows a person to petition the Governor's Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) to review Citizens Clean Elections Commission's (CCEC) existing practices, policies, and rules, if they think it doesn't meet certain requirements. This is an effort to rein in the CCEC from doing its job. OPPOSE.

Tuesday, March 10th

House Committee on Elections at 2:00 P.M. 

• SB1032 early voting; signature required; notice (Ugenti-Rita) limits the amount of time the County Recorders have to contact a voter about a missing signature on their early ballot and allow them the opportunity to sign it. Under this bill they would have until 7:00PM Election Day, which likely would not allow the county recorders enough time to reach everyone who inadvertently left off their signature. OPPOSE.
• SB1434 recall petitions and elections; revisions (Gowan) makes it more difficult to recall elected officials. Rules they are adding for petitions to recall elected officials - including rules on who is circulating the petition, and ten conditions that allow them to disqualify signatures.  OPPOSE.

Thursday, March 12th

Senate Committee on Judiciary at 9:30 A.M. 

• HCR2032 initiative; single subject; title (Kern: Allen J, Barto, et al.) refers to the ballot a measure that narrows what can be included in a ballot measure and requires every subject to be in the title. This would make it impossible to place something on the ballot that is comprehensive, including environmental protection measures, and would mean a series of ballot measures. Considering how expensive it is already to propose a measure, this proposal would put the initiative process even further in the hands of only those with the deepest pockets. OPPOSE .

Tell legislators: Protect Citizen's Initiatives and Voting Advocates

Tomorrow both chambers are really amping up their wars on democracy. 

The Arizona Legislature is about to vote on a series of extreme measures that would make grassroots ballot initiatives almost impossible.   It's all expected to happen at 10 am tomorrow. 

These bills, SB1451 and SCR1023/HCR2005, would hugely increase the cost & difficulty of the initiative process, and would essentially give the residents of any legislative district in Arizona the ability to veto an initiative before it even got to the ballot.

Minimum wage initiatives? Gone. Pro-education initiatives? Gone. Anti-corruption initiatives? Gone.

Politicians may not always agree with voters. But that doesn't mean they should attack our constitutional right to participate in direct democracy and make our voices heard.

Protect your rights! Make a quick call to your state legislators now and tell them to vote NO on any bills that interfere with the ballot initiative process. 

SCR1023 and HCR2005, the bills requiring initiatives to get a certain number of signatures from EVERY legislative district, will be debated on the Senate & House floor tomorrow. These bills would be referred to the ballot for voter’s approval in 2020 – and would be the ballot measure to end all ballot measures. The requirements laid out in both bills represent the MOST EXTREME HURDLE of its kind anywhere in the country. By doing so, this would make it easier to get something on the ballot in Scottsdale than in Maryvale – rather than treating voters equally.

SB1451, stricter requirements for initiatives, is ALSO going to be debated on the House floor.

And as if that wasn’t enough – so is HB2616, the bill that would criminalize voter registration volunteers.

IF YOU CAN DRIVE CALLS TO YOUR LEGISLATORS, PLEASE DO and ask them to VOTE NO on ALL of the above bills. Find your legislator and a convenient call script HERE.

Script: 

My name is [your name] and I am a voter in your district. I am calling to ask you to vote NO on SB1451 and SCR1023/HCR2005, which would make grassroots ballot initiatives almost impossible.

- Arizona Advocacy Network and Foundation
http://www.azadvocacy.org/

Citizen's Initiatives or Dark Money? Protect our right to be heard. Call your legislators now!

Democracy is on the line today: the House is trying to restrict citizens' initiatives while the Senate is (yet again) going after Clean Elections.

 It's time to call our state legislators!  If you've already called, thank you. Please, call again. We can't let them take away our right to be heard and enact laws that benefit the people of Arizona. 

SB 1451: Places even more technical restrictions on the citizen's initiative process and makes it easier for special interests to invalidate entire sheets of signatures automatically or toss them out in court. Make no mistake these types of restrictions make direct democracy for Arizonans even harder and further opens the door to out of state billionaires to take over the initiative process. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE and ask them to VOTE NO on SB 1451. 

HB 2724: The bill would create new avenues for dark money groups and other bad actors to evade enforcement by the Clean Elections Commission. On top of inviting even more dark money into Arizona, HB 2724 could jeopardize the entire scope of the Commission’s work including their voter education and outreach programs. CONTACT YOUR SENATOR and ask them to VOTE NO on HB 2724. 

-Arizona Advocacy Network and Foundation
http://www.azadvocacy.org/

 CONTACT YOUR REPS!

To find out who your Representative is, find your district here.

Use that district number to look up your Rep here.

Arizonans! Protect your right to vote CALL IN DAY

TUESDAY, April 16th 

Join AZAN for the 3^rd “Protect Your Right to Vote Call-in Day” to (again) ask our Representatives to vote NO on SB 1188 – the bill that takes the “permanent” of the permanent early voting list and would purge over 200,000 from the PEVL. All you have to do is dial 701-484-0521 to be connected to the House. You can check out a quick script and more information HERE.

After dialing for democracy all day – you’re definitely going to need to relax with a drink (or two) – so please join us for happy hour at Huss Brewing in Central Phoenix. We’ll be there right at 5:30pm and are bringing a few amazing friends with us. You can RSVP HERE.

WEDNESDAY,  April 17th

You’re invited to tune in to tune into a Voting Rights Virtual Town Hall – featuring Representative Athena Salman, Representative Reginald Bolding, Shelley Jackson of Arizona Coalition for Change and our very own Joel Edman as they discuss the Arizona Voters Bill of Rights and the constant attack on voting rights this legislative session. Just join ProgressNow Arizona’s Facebook page at 6 pm. More information – and a link to submit questions to the panel can be found HERE.

- Arizona Advocacy Network and Foundation
http://www.azadvocacy.org/