AZ AFL-CIO
Legislative Update
April 5th, 2010
In This Issue:
1.
Union News Highlights
2.
State Capitol Update
3.
Hero & Villain of the Week
Union News Highlights
Arizona
Nearly Last in “Race to the Top” Education Reform Competition
The U.S. Department of Education
provided yet another reminder of Arizona’s
dismal record on education last week. In the Race to the Top competition for
$250 million in stimulus money, the department
ranked Arizona’s
application 40th out of the 41 states that applied.
One reviewer of the state’s proposed reforms said, “There is no real plan presented as to how
to decrease the achievement gap,” among other failures. A panel appointed by Governor Brewer designed
the state’s application. The two states that won this round of competition, Delaware and Tennessee,
benefitted from close collaboration with teachers unions; as
the anti-union bills moving in the state legislature demonstrate, that sort of
cooperation can be difficult to find in Arizona.
Jerry Spreitzer, Executive Director of the Arizona State American Federation of
Teachers, said the results announced last week show that "The goals of
Race to the Top can only be reached when teachers and management work
together." While some of the
reforms required by the program may represent a different philosophy
of education reform than that of teachers, Arizona’s tremendous failure to win
desperately needed education funds is nevertheless deeply concerning. More
info.
Obama Makes Crucial Appointments to the National Labor
Relations Board
President Obama has appointed Craig Becker
and Mark Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board, ending more than two
years of paralysis on the board. Becker, who is legal counsel to the AFL-CIO,
and Pearce are expected to help push the board in a pro-union direction after
years of decisions unfriendly to labor during the Bush Administration. The
appointments followed pressure from unions on Pres. Obama to make the
appointments, which had stalled in the U.S. Senate for months. In an editorial
before the president’s decision, AFL-CIO
President Richard Trumka called for Becker and Pearce to be
seated: "It's an outrage that a decision-making body so important to the basic rights of working people is crippled by vacancies.”
Read more of President Trumka’s editorial here.
Representatives Mitchell and Flake spar over Healthcare Reform
At
a forum in Tempe last week, Representative Harry Mitchell of Tempe
defended his vote for the landmark healthcare reform legislation that passed
Congress last month. While he lamented that the bill was passed through the
budget reconciliation process, he touted its tremendous benefits, including
help for those with pre-existing conditions and those who buy their insurance
individually. He and Representative Jeff Flake of Mesa also discussed the lack of
bipartisanship in Congress and the growing gulf between the parties. Read
more.
To
his credit, in the last week Rep. Mitchell highlighted his support for two
bills with bipartisan support. The Troops to Teachers Enhancement Act would
help encourage service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq to start
careers in education. Mitchell has also cosponsored the Repaying the American
Taxpayer Act, which would require that repayments of bailout money from banks
be used to pay down the deficit.
State Capitol Update
Anti-Union Bills Moved Closer to Final Passage
- House Bill
2620, which would allow
union members to revoke wage withholding agreements at any time,
passed the House last week. The AZ AFL-CIO is opposed.
- A bill that
establishes new,
strict regulations on independent campaign expenditures by unions
and corporations is now ready to be signed by the governor. The AZ AFL-CIO
is opposed to HB2788.
Union-backed bill hits roadblock
Today,
a bill to extend tax
incentives for motion picture production in Arizona
failed to gain enough votes for passage on the Senate floor. SB1409 would help
create new jobs in Arizona
and diversify the state’s economy, and is similar to legislation that dozens of
other states have passed. Your union brothers and sisters at the American Federation of Television and
Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) both supported
this bill. Thank you to those who called in their legislators last week asking
them to vote for this bill!
Upcoming
- Payday
loans are back on the docket: Voters
rejected so-called reforms to payday loans in the 2008 election. Now, the
industry and its lobbyists are taking the backdoor route before
authorization for these stores expires in June. On Wednesday the Senate
Finance Committee will debate a strike-everything amendment to HB2305,
which would reauthorize the payday loan industry in Arizona
and enact superficial reforms.
- Clean
Elections threatened: Last week, two bills that
would ask voters to dismantle Arizona’s
public financing of political campaigns were held; this week, SCR1043 and
SCR1009 are back in committee. The bills will both be heard in the House
Commerce Committee Wednesday.
- Pearce's
anti-labor bill gets hearing: Sen.
Russell Pearce’s “Employer Protections; Labor Relations” bill (SB1242)
would create harsh
fines and murky regulations on picketing and demonstrations.
It passed out of the Senate last week and will be heard in the House
Commerce Committee this Wednesday. The AZ AFL-CIO is strongly opposed.
TAKE ACTION
AGAINST PEARCE'S ANTI-LABOR BILLNOW!
Please
contact your representatives to let them know you oppose Senate Bill 1242.
- Union
members already follow strict federal regulations when they exercise their
constitutional rights of assembly and free speech.
- This
bill would create confusion about when demonstrations are legal. In
addition, it would create new harsh fines.
Search for your
representative and find their contact information here.
It only takes a minute! Legislators do listen to constituents living
in their district.
Hero & Villain of the Week
In what may be a preview of the race
for Governor, this week Democratic Attorney
General Terry Goddard and Republican Governor Jan Brewer
sparred over the healthcare reform bill recently passed by Congress. While
Attorneys General from other states plan to challenge the bill’s
constitutionality, Goddard
declined to, saying “Our lawyers agree with the overwhelming majority of
constitutional scholars of both parties that the lawsuits have little merit and
that participating in them would be a waste of scarce taxpayer dollars."
Governor Brewer responded to the AG’s office
by calling a special session of the legislature, seeking the authority to mount
a lawsuit on behalf of the state; on Thursday, she signed a bill granting her
that power.
She and other Republican
legislators are particularly angry that the healthcare reform
bill punches holes in the recently passed state budget. Notably, the wildly
unpopular cuts to AHCCCS and KidsCare will have to be reinstated or the state
could lose nearly $7 billion every year in federal funds. A recent report by
the non-partisan Joint Legislative Budget Committee shows that the healthcare
overhaul will save the state $2.3 billion by the year 2020. To find out more
about how Healthcare Reform benefits all Arizonans, visit the White House’s HealthReform.gov website.
For
supporting healthcare reform and fighting against the expensive, political
stunts of the governor, Attorney
General Terry Goddard is the Arizona AFL-CIO’s Hero of the Week. Governor Jan Brewer is
our Villain of the Week.
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