AZ NOW Legislative ACTION ALERT 4-1-17

Actions at the Governor’s desk

Ducey signed three good bills from last week (HB2208 regarding inhalers; HB2444 regarding sexual assault victim advocates privilege; and SB1422 regarding vacating the conviction of a sex trafficking victim. He also signed the two bad bills from last week (SB1239 about disability parking violations and SB1439 about end of life decisions.)He has since signed the following bills: HB2226 requesting an Article V convention on the federal constitution; HB2302 requiring electoral college delegates to vote for person who got the most votes (not the intent of the electoral college); and SB1128 about recording fetal deaths.The Senate passed HCR2013 to have a Constitutional Convention to rewrite it for a balanced budget and sent that to the Secretary of State.

Senate President Steve Yarbrough
[email protected]
602.926.5863Speaker of the House JD Mesnard
[email protected]
602.926.4481.Of course you will want to have the email and phone numbers of your own legislative district Senator and two Representatives. If you don’t know, go to this web site:http://www.azleg.gov/findmylegislator/
and find out.If a bill gets to Governor Ducey’s desk, his contact is:

The Legislative Committee of Central Phoenix Inez Casiano NOW chapter is always happy to have new members. We are not only scrambling to finish this session, but already planning for next year to have even more impact. You don’t need any special skills. we’ll teach you all you need to know! If you are interested or curious, please do join us.

Featured Items

SB1367 passed the House on 3/29 by a vote of 34-22-4 as amended. The amendment makes those clinical staff reporting violations at least be present in the room when it allegedly happened. The amendment also added that if rapid neonatal resuscitation is complied with and further treatment will only prolong the act of dying, doctors don’t have to do it. When the bill passed the House on 3/29, it was sent to the Senate the same day and passed there 18-11 as amended and sent to the Governor also on the same day. So you see, they can do things very quickly when they want to. And they always seem to want to interfere with women’s rights to control our own bodies and make our own decisions about our bodies and our families. One man held a very appropriate sign at the Planned Parenthood march on March 24 – If it ain’t your body; it ain’t your choice. Contact Ducey to veto the bill

The extension of time for TANF cash assistance and SNAP (food stamp) benefits in HB2372 is hotly contested with Democrats opposing the harsh conditions imposed on beneficiaries. Children’s Action Alliance also opposes. It passed Approps on 3/28, 5-4-1. Read the bill, and the comments, make your own decision, take action.Please take action on HB2496. The striker bill is now a “Consumer Access Line of Credit” that allows for exorbitant interest rates for small loans for the most vulnerable people and then grave punishments when they can’t pay. It passed Senate Approps 6-4. Contact Senate President Steve Yarbrough to encourage him NOT to schedule. Contact your own Senator and two representatives to oppose.The session can be extended for seven days by leadership but thereafter any extension has to be approved by a majority vote of the members. So keep your eyes peeled for the last minute flurry. The budget is not yet finalized so much time will be taken with that. The budget is most definitely a policy document and has vast implications on the state not to mention the obvious issues of education, health care and mass incarceration.

SB1406 was used as a vehicle for the striker for SB1198: Public accommodation, services, civil actions – Kavanagh’s bill to allow businesses an extra 90 days to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Law – they have already had 26 years. A “compromise” was reached with the businesses now having only 30 days to comply and limiting what violations it applies to. The bill still attacks the attorneys and if the attorney general sues and gets money, the money goes to the Office of Youth, Faith and Families rather than to any disability group. Supposedly they are to use it for education about the issue but why not to a disability group? This “compromise” is unacceptable. It passed House Appropriations on 3/29, 13-0. Contact Mesnard to encourage him NOT to schedule for floor. Contact your own two representatives and Senator to oppose.