Claire Knipe, Political Director
In 2022, despite major challenges in the newly redistricted maps, Arizona List legislative candidates held their own. In the legislature the Republicans only had a one seat majority in each chamber. Yet attacks on public education, voting rights, the environment, reproductive rights, and our LGBTQ+ children were the norm this session. We are only safe thanks to Governor Hobbs and her veto pen.
Democrats introduced good legislation to solve problems, but Republicans stood in the way. Almost 800 bills were introduced this session, half introduced by Democrats, but because the majority party chair decides what to hear, less than 50 Democratic bills were heard in committee.
Many of those good bills passed out of committee thanks to the hard work of their sponsors. So then Republicans changed the rules. For a Democratic bill just to be heard on the floor, Republican leadership announced it needed to be signed onto by the majority of Republicans rather than a majority of the legislature. Every Democratic bill now needed almost a 3/4 majority for a chance to be heard, denying true representation for almost half our state.
Here are just a few bills we could have had, if we had Republicans who played fair:
- HB2125- Rep. Athena Salman- to repeal Arizona’s territorial ban on abortion
- HB2068- Rep. Analise Ortiz- to repeal the state’s pre-emption on rent control
- HB2660- Rep. Leezah Sun- to grant money for low income family planning services
- HB2073 – Rep. Laura Terech- automatic voter registration
- SB1647- Sen. Eva Burch- to require employers to accommodate pregnant employees
- HB2350- Rep. Patty Contreras- to remove grass from state buildings to conserve water
- SB1317- Sen. Eva Diaz- to create oversight and comprehensive reporting for online schools
- SB1436- Sen. Priya Sundareshan- to re-establish the Permanent Early Vote List (PEVL)
- SB1042- Sen. Christine Marsh- to permanently repeal the aggregate expenditure limit (AEL)
- HB2648- Rep. Nancy Gutierrez- to add LGBTQ+ students to current anti-bullying statutes
We must flip the Senate and the House in 2024.
We need more than a governor’s veto – we need progressive change.
We have the candidates, the plan and we are ready to go – we just need you!