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Empowering Voters/
Defending Democracy
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Take Action:
Email, Phone, RTS
and share with others!
You can always come and watch committee hearings.
You can also sign up to speak on-site
at
the legislature,
using a kiosk outside the hearing room.
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House Elections Committee
Find All Elections Committee members
HERE.
Tuesday 3/19, 2 pm
, House Hearing Room 4 (could change)
Advocates against 1451 below are being asked to
pack the committee hearing!
The SOS office is quite upset about this bill, as it would cost over 2 million dollars (!!) to hire people to deal with the increased paperwork and implementation this bill would cause.
SB1090
--
emergency voting procedures - Ugenti-Rita
(This bill was
held
last in this committee last week, but it's on again this week!)
Provisions
:
The most egregious part of this bills
requires a sworn affidavit for emergency voting
which states that occurrence was unavoidable and could not have been known in advance; and that without the emergency provisions, the person would otherwise be unable to vote in the election in any other manner. Also
gives the
county board of supervisors authority
over if/when/where emergency voting can occur.
OPPOSE:
The bill has no logical rationale other than to create another obstacle to voting, and as such is discriminatory and oppressive.
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SB1451
--
statewide ballot measures, circulators - Leach
Provisions
:
Creates
stricter and more burdensome requirements for paid circulators of ballot petitions
(and unpaid out-of-state circulators). E.g.:
-- Requires an affidavit from the registered circulator, signed before a notary public;
-- Each
filed signature sheet must contain the registration number assigned to a circulator; and petitions must be grouped by circulator.
-- Violations are a class 1 misdemeanor -- the most serious class of misdemeanors.
OPPOSE:
The requirements obstruct the constitutionally protected people’s power (right to directly make laws) and serve no purpose other than to make it difficult to get an initiative on the ballot.
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House Ways and Means Committee
Find All House W/M Committee members
HERE.
Wednesday 3/20, 9 am
, House Hearing Room 1 (could change)
SB1485 -
tuition organization, inflator - Mesnard
Provisions:
A “strike everything” that
would cap the automatic growth of School Tuition Organization tax credits
, incrementally over a 5-year period. Current yearly inflator is 20%. Beginning in 2021, the inflator would be reduced by 5 percentage points annually until fiscal year 2024. From then on, the cap would grow by 2 percent or annual inflation, which is greater.
SUPPORT:
STO organizations take private and corporate donations and distribute the dollars as scholarships to help cover the cost of private school tuition. If left to grow according to current law, by 2030, our state will spend more on these tax credits for corporations (currently $89 million) than those same corporations will be paying into our state budget.
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Senate JudiciaryCommittee
Find All Senate Judiciary Committee members
HERE.
Thursday 3/21, 9 am
, Senate Hearing Room 109 (could change)
HB 2026
-
Public resources, influencing elections, penalties - Kavanagh
Provisions:
Allows any person to sue a school or other jurisdiction they believe is using its resources for the purpose of influencing the outcomes of elections. Most of this was already illegal, but HB2026
goes even farther to permit anyone to sue the school district for violations
.
OPPOSE:
Unnecessary and invites harassment of school officials.
HB2032
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Early ballots, tabulation - Townsend
Provisions:
Allows tallying of early ballots to begin 14 days prior to election day. (Currently must wait until 7 days prior to election day.)
SUPPORT:
This will increase efficiency by decreasing number of ballots left to be counted after the election.
HB2039
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federal form voter registration - Townsend
Provisions:
Requires the county recorder to report and post the number of people who are registered to vote using the state voter registration form, who have not provided proof of citizenship. AND after each general election, the recorder must post the number of ballots cast by those eligible to vote for federal offices only.
OPPOSE:
Though this is not the most horrible bill out there, it is a form of institutional harassment in the guise of data collection, motivated by the continuing suspicion that people are voting fraudulently.
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House Government Committee
Find All House Government Committee members
HERE.
Thursday 3/21, 9 am
, House Hearing Room 1 (could change)
SCR1008
-
lieutenant governor - Mesnard
Provisions:
Establishes the Lieutenant Governor as a member of the Executive Department beginning with the election term starting in 2027. Requires a candidate for Lieutenant Governor
to run as the joint candidate of a candidate for Governor on the general election ballot.
SUPPORT: The League believes a clear line of succession in the Executive Branch should be more obvious to the public than in the current system . . . To avoid mid-term changes in party, continuity problems or policy reversals, League supports the creation of an Office of Lieutenant Governor with duties separate from that of the Secretary of State, and that the candidate and the candidate for governor should run on the same party ticket.
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For your continuing attention:
HB2616 -
registration of voters, payment - Townsend
Will be reconsidered on House floor on 3/18
States that a person -- other than an employee of a political party -- who pays or receives money based on the number of voter registration forms submitted is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor (6 months/$2500). Completed voter registration forms must be returned within 10 days of the receipt of the registration and if a person knowingly fails to do so, it is a Class 6 felony (2 years/$150,000).
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NO, contact your House Reps -- paying people to register voters has not been a common practice. Penalties are harsh. Harassment and impediment to registering voters.
SB1054 -
Curing of ballots - Ugenti-Rita
Requires a 5 day “cure period” for those with disqualified ballots in a federal election (3 days for other elections). Allows early ballots to be tallied beginning no earlier than 14 days before the election rather than 7 days before the election.
SB1394 -
Charter School training, posting, accountability -- Brophy McGee
No committee assignment as yet
In general, mandates that:
--the State Charter School Board make available online a training course for governing board bodies and key administrative personnel of charter schools.
--charter school governing boards have at least 3 members, with not more than two who are immediate family members, who cannot be a majority of the board.
--reporting occur and processes be implemented that increase transparency and accountability around many aspects of charter school operation: tax filings, procurement, board membership, conflicts of interest, etc.
FOR NOW, League
supports conditionally
, depending on amendment activity in the House
-- Requirements should increase professionalism and effectiveness, deter self-dealing and mismanagement, and bring accountability more in line with other public schools.
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HB2523
:
Reduction of full-time student wages while working part-time - Grantham
T
his bill has been
shelved for now
by Senate Commerce Committee for now. Grantham calls the bill a pro-labor initiative; opponents (and a House attorney) call the bill discriminatory, and unconstitutional because
it conflicts with the state’s minimum wage statute, which voters approved in 2016.
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Movie Screening:
"Backpack Full of Cash"
March 27, 5:30 pm
Mesa Community College
Navajo Room, Building KSC-35S
1833 W Southern Ave
Mesa, AZ 85202
Special Notes: There will be
catering
for the event, so food will be provided for all attendees.
RSVP! Room for 300 people!
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BACKPACK FULL OF CASH
is a cautionary tale
about how, in cities like Philadelphia, privatization and funding cuts have had a devastating impact on public schools
, and the most vulnerable children who rely on them. The film also showcases a model for improving schools – a well-resourced public school system in Union City, New Jersey, where poor kids are getting a high quality education without charters or vouchers.
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Thanks for being
an involved citizen!
Please consider a donation to support our advocacy and education efforts.
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