Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Goodwill proposes to open as many as 22 Excel Center locations in Arizona over the coming decade. A modest state investment would pay massive benefits for the economy and, most of all, the individual students and their families.

It’s easy to get bogged down by the politics, the criticism or the should haves, but our children don’t have the time for this. So, we forge forward, providing the best opportunities we can with the hand no one would ever want to be dealt; and, with that, we turn to advocating for our children so we can meet their needs moving forward.

Arizona’s unemployment system needs to be revamped. I introduced SB1411 as a comprehensive package to provide this overhaul after countless hours of collaboration from a diverse stakeholder community, prioritizing information-based policymaking. House members took a different approach. As a result, the actual policy was poorly crafted.

Our individual quality of life, the strength of our workforce and our state’s long-term prosperity are all at stake. The return on Arizona’s investments in education could be astounding if we make the right decisions today.

Arizonans can all agree: it should be easy to vote but hard to cheat.

I urge my Republican colleagues in the Legislature to stand with me in upholding the basic Republican principals of law, order, and public safety, and oppose this misguided attempt to defund local police and fire services.

I hope that the Legislature is actively participating in the legal effort to overturn the new “education tax.” As an attorney, it seems pretty clear to me that only the Legislature – accountable to the voters – has the right to raise taxes on any sub-set of taxpayers. If not, then the public at large can make this decision based on the whims of the moment. Why not vote for an initiative to assess an extra tax on, say, only registered Democrats or only Republicans, or on people of a certain ethnicity? Or on reporters?

As lawmakers debate a tax package to aid in Arizona’s continued economic recovery from the pandemic and to position our state for increased growth, lowering the assessment ratio on commercial property is a policy change that would meaningfully enhance our ability to attract private investment and job creators.

Right now, politicians in Arizona are intent on criminalizing abortion care in cases like ours. They are pushing a bill, SB1457, that makes it a crime to provide an abortion due to a “genetic abnormality.” This bill is a political stunt meant to stigmatize abortion care but it will have very real effects on people and their families.

People are eager to get back to work, and to travel. It’s safe to say most of us are eager to get out of the house. The new normal seems to be changing month to month. It’s my hope that a simple mobile app will help usher in a post Covid normalcy now and in the future.