Legislative Alert, February 22, 2010
Welcome to the
weekly legislative update brought to you from the Arizona AFL-CIO. Your
participation strengthens the union movement at the state legislature and
beyond! All are invited to join the weekly lobbyist meeting to
collaborate efforts and plan strategies & tactics. The weekly meeting is
every Friday @ 12:00 at 5808 N. 7th Street. There will be no Legislative
meeting this week. Meetings will resume Friday, March 5, 2010.
Secretary of Labor Hilda
Solis Visits Arizona
Secretary
of Labor Hilda Solis visited Arizona on Tuesday and Wednesday and during her
visit she visited the One-Stop jobs program in Southern Arizona. The
Secretry then hosted a Labor roundtable meeting with Labor Leaders in
Phoenix to listen to their concerns and ideas on how to bring good jobs to
Arizona.
The Secretary's
final stop on Wednesday was at Labor's Community Service Agency (LCSA).
She met with YouthBuild students who are working to retrofit a building using
green construction skills acquired in a training program funded by the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), which was just one-year old.
YouthBuild is a
nationwide program of the U.S. Department of Labor. The program's students
acquired their green construction skills through a curriculum developed with
funding from the Labor Department's Green Capacity Building Grants. The grants
were awarded in November 2009 and funded under the Recovery Act.
"I am proud
that these Recovery Act investments are helping young people in Phoenix learn
valuable skills, which will help them obtain good jobs and shape a better
future for their communities and our nation," said Secretary Solis.
"We are providing essential training and experience to tomorrow's
workforce, and — while we won't be satisfied until we see net job growth — job
losses are now a fraction of what they were just a year ago."
In Arizona during
2009, because of the Recovery Act, an estimated 43,000 jobs were created or
saved, and more than 320,000 state residents received expanded
unemployment benefits.
Senator Jonathon Paton
Stepping Down Today
Sen.
Jonathan Paton said today will be his last in the Arizona Senate. He is
stepping down to run for Congress against Gabriel Gifford's. Paton is one
of a growing number of Conservatives who are dodging their responsibility of
solving the budget problems and running for a higher office. Priorities,
priorities!
HCR2043 and HB2639:
Minimum Wage; Younger Workers - NO!
This bill passed
the house on a 5-1 vote with Rep. Meza voting against both of them. It also
passed out of Rules today with a 5-3 Vote. The bill now moves
to House Consent on Thursday, Feb.
25th.
These bills would
add to the financial pains already borne by workers in the state of Arizona.
Young Arizonans are struggling to support themselves, and even their parents,
as older Arizonans deal with higher unemployment. The Arizona AFL-CIO is
opposed to HCR2043 and HB2639.
- These bills are illegal. Proposition 105, passed in
1998, mandates that the legislature is prohibited from amending statutes
if the changes do not further the purpose of the measure. The Arizona
AFL-CIO, which helped draft the Minimum Wage Act's language, asserts that
these bills do not further the purpose of the act.
- HCR2043 and HB2639 threaten the wages-- and futures--
of all young persons. Young workers will be labeled as deserving less than
others, although they shoulder similar responsibilities and living
expenses. Young workers are fathers, mothers, caretakers, and are in many
cases supporting themselves as they attend college.
- All workers could suffer if the minimum wage is
lowered. If this change went into effect, then older, low-skilled Arizona
workers could find themselves forced out of minimum wage jobs as cheaper,
younger workers are substituted in their place. These bills threaten all
working families of Arizona.
Here are the
articles on the Minimum Wage Bills:
East Valley Tribune
Arizona Daily News
KTAR
Sierra Vista Herald
TV Coverage
Fox News
ABC 15 News
Bill to Watch Update - SB
1242— Employer Protections; Labor Relations – NO!
This bill was
held and remains on our watch list.
The Arizona
AFL-CIO is strongly opposed to SB 1242. This bill is preempted by federal labor
law, which already provides adequate remedies in this area. Moreover, it has a
chilling effect on free speech with its vague definitions along with increased
fines for violations.
Bills to Watch - SCR1032
AND HB2283— Schools; Classroom Instruction Expenditure NO!
These
bills are based on the already discredited "65 percent solution," and
would require that a percentage of each school's budget to be spent "in
the classroom." The similar bills SCR1032 and HB2283 worsen the already
bleak situation for Arizona's schools by stripping away vital support services
for students, including school security, quality lunches, and clean classrooms.
Moreover, teacher training and guidance counselors could be cut in order to
comply with this rigid mandate. The Arizona AFL-CIO is opposed to SCR1032 and
HB2283.
Amanda Reeve named to
replace Rep. Sam Crump
Maricopa
County supervisors named Phoenix resident and political activist Amanda Reeve
as the new state representative from District 6 in North Phoenix, New River and
Anthem.
Reeve is a
paralegal at the Phoenix law firm Bryan Cave, a member of the Paradise Valley
Village Planning Committee for the City of Phoenix and an elected Republican
state committeeman from District 6. Ms. Reeve replaces state Rep. Sam Crump, of
Anthem, who resigned to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Reeve
was one of three candidates nominated by District 6 Republicans for the
position.
Show us the Jobs!
Tucson is getting a staggering $63 million in federal stimulus money for the
rail project that will connect downtown with the UA.
Rep. Raúl M.
Grijalva proudly announced that Tucson will receive a $63 million grant from the
Department of Transportation for Tucson's planned light rail system.
Grijalva stated, "This will help Tucson turn a major corner in its
efforts to rejuvenate the economy, build a cleaner infrastructure, attract more
tourism and provide public transportation along some of the busiest corridors
in the city."
The new funds, granted through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will
be combined with $87.7 million from the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) and a
$4 million federal earmark championed by Rep. Grijalva to fund the rail
project, one of only a handful nationwide.
"This is an excellent way to leverage federal dollars," Grijalva said
of the grant. "The city will be repaid several times over through
increased transportation efficiency, expanded commercial access, pollution
reduction and progress on Rio Nuevo. This is exactly the kind of project that
shows why the Recovery Act was a vital step in rebuilding the economy."
Rep. Grijalva, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Mayor Bob Walkup joined Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood tomorrow at a ceremony announcing the funds at Tucson's
historic downtown train depot.
Clean Elections Survived
the Supreme Court
The
U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to lift a stay blocking implementation of a
judge's order that overturns a key part of Arizona's public campaign financing
system.
The court issued
the order on Feb. 16 and said a new appeal could be filed after the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals rules in the case.
Last month U.S.
District Judge Roslyn Silver ruled that so-called matching funds violate
constitutional free speech rights by chilling private contributions. But
implementation of her ruling was stayed to allow for an appeal.
Arizona provides
publicly funded candidates with extra money beyond their basic funding
allotments when they are outspent by privately funded rivals or targeted by
independent expenditures. The matching funds is what many running clean
consider a valuable option for many candidates to be considered
competitive. The matching funds would end under Silver's ruling.
Who is in and who is out
of the CD 3 Race
The Republican keeps growing and at the end of last week, this
is the list of who is running: Sen. Jim Waring, Sen. Pamela Gorman, Rep.
Sam Crump, PV Mayor, Vernon Parker, and Ed Winkler, Paulina Vasquez Morris and
LeAnn Hull and Ben Quayle.
On the Democratic
side Jon Hulburd made it official this past week, he is in it to win it and has
raised over 315,000 to be a very viable candidate especially with 9 republicans
fighting it out.
McCain vs. Hayworth-
Update
The race for the
senate has begun early this year and as you should know J.D. Hayworth has
challenged McCain for the GOP spot on the ballot. People are noticing that this
might be a real opponent for McCain and so the media fire storm and mud
slinging has ensued at a rapid rate. The race is being claimed as McCain's
toughest battle for re-election yet, but in the latest Rasmussen Reports Poll
McCain has a 22 point lead, while in November Hayworth and McCain were nearly neck
to neck. Hayworth's main talking point at the moment is about McCain's ACU
(American Conservatives Union) rating, while it's not particularly low at a
life time average of 81.43 it is much lower than Hayworth's at 97.56. McCain's
camp has not responded to the newest attempt at slashing support but this poses
the question; Do Arizona's Republicans want more compromise or more
conservative?
Hero & Villain of the
Week
The
Hero for this week is Rep. Robert Meza who was the solo vote to vote against
the Minimum Wage bills HCR2043 and HB2639. Rebekah Friend stated,
"Being the solo vote can be difficult and we applaud him for his
courage."
The Villain of
the week should be not shocker; it is Rep. Laurin Hendrix R-Dist 22 who is the
sponsor of the Minimum Wage bills that would reduce the minimum wage by 25% to
workers 22 and younger.
Watch State Legislature in
Action
Just
a reminder, Cox Cable recently began broadcasting AZ Capitol TV from the
Arizona Legislature on Channel 123. This channel is a CSPAN style channel
featuring events of the Arizona Legislature and other state programming of
interest such as Statehood Day. Also, the Arizona Legislature now has an
online video archive. View and hear live and archived hearings and
meetings using the State of Arizona's live and video archive at http://azleg.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=3
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