Last Week at the Legislature
Sunday, February 4, 2024
Hi Friend,
Welcome to Last Week at the Legislature, my weekly report to you on what's happening in your State House, what I'm doing, and how I voted. It's an honor to serve you. Please contact me anytime.
Judy
Representative Judy Schwiebert, LD2
jschwiebert@azleg.gov, JudySchwiebert.com, 602-935-0468
I was honored to partner with Governor Hobbs and Senator Christine Marsh to introduce the referendum asking voters to renew Prop 123. I introduced HCR2044 in the House using the Governor's plan calling for the state to use just the interest on the $8 Billion sitting in the State Land trust to provide raises for all educators (teachers & support staff), make schools safer, and not raise taxes a cent. I invite all my colleagues of both parties to join us in voting YES to put this important proposal before voters.
Coming Attractions!
Sunday, Feb 18, 1-3 pm
Lookout Mountain Area - RSVP for address
I hope you'll join me and my friend Stephanie Simacek, Deer Valley School Board member and candidate for the Arizona State House this November. Just RSVP here and our staff will email you the exact address the day before the party.
House Education Committee
It's an honor to be part of the Democratic Teacher Caucus serving on the House Education committee that meets Tuesday afternoons. We're all former - or current teachers, including Rep Jennifer Pawlik, Rep Laura Terech, Rep Nancy Gutierrez, and me. A list of all House Education Committee members can be found here.
Although Democratic members have proposed many bills to increase student safety and mental health services, create greater protections for parents with special needs students, and provide greater accountability for now taxpayer-funded private schools, no Democratic bill has been on any Education committee agenda since the session began.
Instead we spent the majority of our time this week on HB2674, a bill sponsored by the Republican committee chair that should have been heard in the Health committee.
House Appropriations Committee
STATE UNIVERSITIES
The House Appropriations Committee meets every Wednesday afternoon after the Floor Session. In addition to the bills on our agenda for this past week, we also heard from President Jose Cruz-Rivera of Northern Arizona University, President Michael Crow of Arizona State University, and President Robert Robbins of the University of Arizona.
They reported on the financial health of our state universities, as well as how the legislature's budget decisions will affect their ability to continue to provide the workforce we need in Arizona. Even in this time when we're facing a dire teacher shortage crisis, the legislature has not been adequately funding their Teacher Academy programs to meet the demand for the number of students who want to become teachers.
Each of them expressed appreciation for Governor Hobbs' proposal that will help streamline state financial aid for students.
All our state universities said they are NOT planning tuition increases. Currently, much of the cost is borne by students coming from out of state.
Our committee also expressed concerns about the deficit reported recently at the University of Arizona. Their CFO has been replaced by John Arnold from the Arizona Board of Regents who is creating a more centralized financial tracking system and re-examining their priorities.
Sub-Approps on Budgetary Funding Formulas (BFF)
TRANSPORTATION
This past Thursday morning our Sub Approps committee first heard from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) which opposes the increased use of electric vehicles.
Not addressed was the fact that in Arizona, transportation is currently responsible for 46.3% of carbon dioxide emissions and the resulting climate change and poor air quality. Something has to change.
Also, highway maintenance is largely funded by the fuel tax. Since more consumers are now choosing electric vehicles, it's vital that we find a way to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. While this group opposes Vehicle Miles Travel (VMT) system, multiple studies show that measuring miles (NOT routes) show that VMT fees would shift the tax burden from low-income to high income households. Studies also found that the annual tax burden would affect 98% of the population by less than $20.
Our second presentation was from the AZ Department of Transportation. Since the Ducey flat tax and the ESA vouchers (both disproportionately benefitting the wealthiest Arizonans) have resulted in a deep budget deficit this year, Governor Hobbs has been working with all agencies, including ADOT to determine where we can make cuts. Which roads make the cut is largely being determined by current status of the project, as well as whether Arizona will be receiving the federal matching funds needed to accomplish it.
ADOT will be providing us additional detail on how we can best balance the need to save money while also prioritizing road safety.
Make your Voice Heard Next Week!
To learn what's coming up THIS week so you can make your voice heard in YOUR State House and Senate, I highly recommend subscribing to weekly newsletters from the nonpartisan Civic Engagement Beyond Voting. (CEBV) You can read it and subscribe here.
AND to Save Our School Arizona's weekly newsletter. This week's edition exposes Suprintendent Horne's new partnership with the extremist right-wing PragerU (not a university). Their curriculum is designed to dismiss the horrors of slavery and teach inaccurate and untruthful versions of history and science. You can read and subscribe to the Save Our Schools newsletter here.
Important Issues We're Discussing
WATER
This week, we voted on several water bills, all of them sponsored by the chair of the Natural Resources Committee, Republican Gail Griffin.
At a time when it's urgent to address our essential but dwindling groundwater supply, these bills are all designed to skirt current policies needed to maintain life in the desert. I voted NO on each of the following bills, but they all passed and are headed to the Senate.
HB2016 would give water users in the Douglas area up to 24 additional months to grandfather in their level of groundwater pumping. The Douglas community's water supply is already in peril, yet this would further delay the AZ Dept of Water Resources (ADWR) ability to limit pumping in the area.
HB2017 In 1980 Arizona's Groundwater Management Act* created Active Management Areas (AMAs) in more densely populated areas of the state where developers are required to show a 100 year assured water supply before building new single family homes. This is largely why Phoenix and other cities managed by AMAs have a relatively more secure water supply than in rural areas. However, THIS bill would allow builders to mix groundwater with effluent or river water serving other communities so they could undercut the current moratorium on groundwater-reliant development.
HB2019 Allows anybody to challenge the results of an Arizona Dept of Water Resources report to undercut the highly specialized work of their hydrologists in order to accommodate criticisms by homebuilders who want to continue developing groundwater-reliant subdivisions.
Yet, bills such as the following that offer serious options for addressing - or even just better understanding our water shortage and quality are left unheard.
SB1246 (Sundareshan-D) would require people who withdraw more than 10 acre feet per year from a well in an Active Management Area to use a water measuring device approved by the director of the ADWR.
SB1325 (Sundaresan-D) would give first priority to the conservation and maintenance of water in the aquifers across the state and subsequently prioritize the protection of Arizona consumers and all other uses after that.
HB2357 (Stahl-Hamilton-D) would require ADWR to issue a report every three years assessing the overall health of each watershed in the state and including recommendations for maintaining an adequate, clean water supply.
* Again, the blue areas in the slide below shows where the 1980 Groundwater Management Act created what's called Active Management Areas (AMAs) in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas. This is where we currently have a relatively stable water supply because developers of single family homes must ensure a 100 year water supply before being allowed to build.
However, access to water in the rest of the state is a free for all where "whoever drills the deepest well wins." Some rural communities where they see new wealthy landowners depleting their water supply are now looking for help to protect that supply. This is very much an oversimplification, since we're also getting much less from the Colorado River than in the past, but it gives a general picture.
Opportunity for Arizona Youth
I so appreciated the chance to meet with high school students Regina, Renata, Abigail and Fabricio from Aliento this week. While the US is the only home these young people have known, Arizona law prevents them or their friends from earning a driver's license - or an occupational license because they were not born here. They encouraged me to support two bills, HB2701 and another that would allow them those licenses. I find it troubling that because federal law does not allow them a pathway to earn legal status, we do not allow them the tools they need to fulfill their potential and fully contribute to our state's economy At a time when we desperately need more healthcare workers, teachers, and others, it seems like we're hurting ourselves, too.
COMMUNITY COLLEGES = PIPELINE TO THE WORKFORCE
Wednesday was Community College Day at the Capitol. It was great to visit with Dusty (occupied with lunch at the time) from the vet tech program as well as others demonstrating pathways to other great careers as well.
It was also great to visit with GCC President Dr. Tiffany Hernandez and others at the Maricopa Community Colleges' Phoenix Forge Maker Space downtown. There, students can learn carpentry, electrical, jewelry making and other skills.
HOMELESSNESS
On Friday, I got an inspiring tour from CEO John Hogeboom and the team at the Community Bridges, Inc. (CBI) campus, a former hotel near 24th Street and University. Their non-profit agency partners with other organizations to provide assistance to those experiencing homelessness whether it's because of mental health, substance abuse or skyrocketing rent that puts an increasing number of seniors out on the street. I met Mark, an older gentleman and his adorable Yorkie named Chloe who lost their home when the landlord increased the rent out of his reach and wound up on the street. I also learned about the culinary arts program that a local restaurant owner is starting in the former hotel.
LISTENING TO CONSTITUENTS
Thank you to Foothills Democrats for including a visit to my office in their tour of the Capitol. I so appreciate the chance to serve you.
CELEBRATING JUSTICE SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR
I so enjoyed attending a special Women in Government luncheon honoring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in the Courts Building last week. We heard from a panel of truly distinguished speakers who knew and worked closely with the justice, including Retired Arizona Supreme Court Justice Ruth McGregor who was one of her first law clerks at the Supreme Court, Ambassador Barbara Barrett who was one of the first interns in the Arizona Senate under O’Connor’s leadership, and Retired Justice Scott Bales who clerked for O’Connor on the Supreme Court in the 1980’s. It was great to share the event with my longtime friend Rhonda Fisk, who is now the Presiding Judge in Maricopa County’s family court.
WORKING FOR WOMEN
Stephanie Simacek and I were so honored to receive the endorsement of the Arizona Chapter of NOW (the National Organization of Women). We joined them for a reception this past week where we and other endorsed candidates got to meet their members.
Nominate a Community Builder!
As a lifelong member of our community, I'm so grateful to the many people and local businesses who make it such a great place to live. That's why I'm excited to be partnering with the Bell Road Business Alliance and Stoke Interactive to recognize many of the local Community Builders in our neighborhood.
We need YOU to make this happen, though! Check out our website at LD2NPCB.com to learn more about past recipients and nominate your favorite locally owned businesses or nonprofits in LD2 to thank them for the vital role they play in making our community the safe, thriving, unique place it is.
Save the Date!
LD2 Democrats of North Phoenix
Wednesday February 21, 6:30 pm
NEW LOCATION!!
Aspire Innovation Center, 20402 N 15th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85027
Do you want a state government that prioritizes
Paying our children's educators better
Addressing the water, affordable housing, and climate change crises
Protecting our freedom to vote by mail or in person
Ensuring we can make our own reproductive healthcare decisions without politicians' interference
Don't let the current legislative majority's culture wars make you lose hope. Join like-minded folks committed to electing a new majority of state legislators who will focus on addressing the vital priorities that all Arizonans share. In 2024, our legislative district is likely to be the one that decides whether we get a new direction for our state.
The LD2 Dems offer hybrid meetings on the third Wednesday of each month where we hear from advocacy groups and candidates about how each one of us can make a difference . RSVP for the zoom link -or get directions here to join us in person!
Our wonderful LD2 State House candidate, Stephanie Simacek, and I will both be speaking about why we agreed to make the commitment to serve our community in the state legislature.
Be Part of the Team To Win for Everyday Arizonans
Volunteer For Our Campaign
We're already hard at work contacting voters in our community about what's at stake in the race for our Legislative District 2 House and Senate seats: a new majority that's listening and working for everyday Arizonans. But no one can do it alone.
The two most important things to do right now are
Join a Community Canvass. We're knocking doors and getting petition signatures to qualify for the ballot as we listen to fellow voters who want a legislature committed to addressing our shared priorities. Use this link to find a day and time that works for you. We'll buddy you up with someone experienced. We need door knockers and drivers.
Donate to our campaign. We need everyone's help to pay for the staff, literature, and other advertising that are essential to winning this competitive race.