CEBV Weekly: March 3, 2025

The dust has settled from Crossover Week, and 800 of the 1800 bills lawmakers introduced in January are now dead. Both chambers spent long days voting on massive floor calendars, often with over 100 bills per day. The lists were so hefty, leadership got their shot clock out.

From this point on, any bill you read about here is one step closer to becoming law (or being vetoed). Please read this week’s edition closely. From the concerning bills in committees to the lawmakers who voted against our interests, we’ve done our best to help you make sense of it all.

⏰ If you have 5 minutes: Act on the two Spotlight bills, SB1013 and HB2112, by using Request to Speak and contacting lawmakers directly to OPPOSE.

⏰⏰ If you have 20 minutes: Also use Request to Speak on the other bills in committees this week. Refer to the information, links and talking points in this Weekly to craft your own comments to lawmakers.

⏰⏰⏰ If you have 30 minutes: Also contact our Hall of Shame and Worst of the Week lawmakers (see those sections below) to tell them what you think.

⏰⏰⏰⏰ If you have 60 minutes: Join us on Zoom for our next CEBV Happy Hour conversation and an informative state legislative rundown. Happy Hour meets every Sunday at 4 PM through the end of legislative session. Sign up in advance here.

SB1013: Destroying Local Government

SB1013 (Petersen, R-14) would ban cities and counties from creating or raising taxes or fees unless they had a two-thirds supermajority vote.

Expanding the harm. The state of Arizona already requires a two-thirds supermajority vote for lawmakers to create or raise taxes. The results? Our state budget is one of the smallest per capita in the US, and our prisons, public safety, public schools and more are underfunded to the point of breaking. These deliberately shrunken state systems struggle to provide the essential services needed for Arizona to grow and for its people to succeed. This measure would force our cities and counties into that same box.

Doubling down. State lawmakers passed a “flat” income tax cut in 2022 and a city rent tax ban in 2024. These have already left our local governments struggling with multi-million-dollar budget holes. Local leaders warned that these measures would force them to either raise local taxes or cut local programs and services. Legislators ignored them, and some cities are now considering increasing local sales tax rates. That’s how it works. When the state requires a two-thirds supermajority to raise state taxes, that means our county and city taxes will go up. If we want fire departments and police, among many other services, cities have to raise revenue somehow. And if state lawmakers tie local hands too, people won't be protected or supported by ANY level of government.

Gridlock and cuts. Punitive measures like this are bureaucratic red tape of the worst kind. At best, they create permanent gridlock. At worst, they catapult funding for critical programs like public safety into jeopardy.

The usual suspects. A whopping 22 cities and towns have registered their opposition to the bill in the state’s Request to Speak system. The only groups in support are anti-tax libertarians such as Free Enterprise Club, Republican Liberty Caucus and Goldwater Institute.

Stop digging. As the saying goes, when you’re in a hole, it’s the first thing to do. We urge you to use Request to Speak to OPPOSE SB1013. Use the comments to remind state lawmakers of the damage this will do to your neighborhoods, and say you don’t want your local services like police, fire, parks and libraries to be cut.

CEBV is committed to helping you make a difference with state and local actions through a proudly progressive lens. Subscribe to the Weekly so you never miss a beat:

HB2112: Broad Language in the Authoritarian Age

HB2112 (Kupper, R-25), would require Arizonans to prove they are at least 18 before accessing "online pornography." While none of us wants our children exposed to this material, the bill’s broad language leaves a lot to interpretation. It’s important to think about who’s interpreting that language, especially in light of our new national landscape of purposeful harm, chaos and confusion. As the ACLU warns, this bill could ban information on HIV/AIDS, sex education, and the LGBTQ+ community, and that would hurt a lot of people.

How could that happen? The first lesson on fighting tyranny is “Do not obey in advance.” But as we’ve all seen, many people and organizations, from tech executives to community college and university officials, from foreign leaders to mainstream media, are doing exactly that: out of greed, fear or resignation, they are over-complying with authoritarian expectations. In this case, that would mean removing lifesaving sex education materials and LGBTQ+ content from the internet.

Incredibly, HB2112 passed the House with a veto-proof supermajority. The limited floor discussion centered on proof of age and privacy concerns. Nobody mentioned the dangers such a bill poses in this new age of authoritarian overreach. All House Republicans voted for the measure, but also 12 Democrats: Anna Abeytia and Lydia Hernandez (D-24), Lorena Austin and Seth Blattman (D-9), Junelle Cavero (D-11), Lupe Contreras (D-22), Alma Hernandez (D-20), Consuelo Hernandez (D-21), Mae Peshlakai and Myron Tsosie (D-6), Stacey Travers (D-12), and Kevin Volk (D-17).

HB2112 is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee on Wednesday. Use RTS to OPPOSE. Reach out to the members of that committee to ask them to vote NO. And if one or more of the above names represents you at the Capitol, please contact them. Ask them to tell Gov. Hobbs they oppose the bill and will not vote to override her veto.

One of our tasks is to hold our allies accountable. This section calls out those who voted for bills we oppose. We ask them to heed and do better.

👎 Alma Hernandez (D-20) and 👎 Consuelo Hernandez (D-21) for voting YES on HB2126 on the House floor. This copy of a vetoed bill from last year requires health care entities to give parents access to all of their minor children’s medical records, even for services that don’t require parental consent. This would strip minors of their right to medical privacy and strip medical professionals of the right to exercise their professional judgment on when to divulge information. The bill is being pushed by the evangelical lobbying group Center for Arizona Policy — we never thought we’d see a day when Democrats voted for a CAP priority bill. Contact Alma Hernandez at ahernandez@azleg.gov or 602-926-3136; contact Consuelo Hernandez at chernandez@azleg.gov or 602-926-3523.

👎 Brian Fernandez (D-23) for voting YES on SB1584 in the Senate Regulatory Affairs committee. This bill bans public schools from implementing hiring policies based on factors other than "merit" as part of the MAGA attack on diversity, equity and inclusion. It also allows individuals to sue, which would lead to endless frivolous claims of “reverse racism.” Fernandez noted in his vote explanation that he is “very against DEI” (!); watch here. Contact Fernandez at bfernandez@azleg.gov or 602-926-3098.

👎 Catherine Miranda (D-11) and 👎 Analise Ortiz (D-24)1 for voting YES on SB1226 on the Senate floor. This copy of a vetoed bill from last year would require schools to restrict students’ use of phones. This is already being handled on the local level; schools should be allowed to set their own policies and not struggle under top-down legislative mandates. Because Mark Finchem and Jake Hoffman broke from their caucus to vote no (Hoffman said students need phones in classrooms “so that they can record the insane, woke antics of teachers"), the bill would have failed without support from Miranda and Ortiz. Contact Miranda at cmiranda@azleg.gov or 602-926-3413; contact Ortiz at analise.ortiz@azleg.gov or 602-926-3633.

👎 12 Democratic lawmakers for voting YES on HB2201 on the House floor. Called the “bill that lets APS burn your house down” by environmental protection groups, HB2201 would give power companies new protections from lawsuits if their equipment starts a wildfire. The standard in the bill is harder to prove than in other civil cases and leaves injured homeowners on the hook for losses caused by utilities. The utility lobby pushed hard for this bill, and the following lawmakers capitulated: Anna Abeytia and Lydia Hernandez (D-24), Cesar Aguilar (D-26), Seth Blattman (D-9), Janeen Connolly (D-8), Lupe Contreras and Elda Luna-Nájera (D-22), Alma Hernandez (D-20), Consuelo Hernandez (D-21), Stephanie Simacek (D-2), Stacey Travers (D-12), and Myron Tsosie (D-6). The bill would not have passed without their support. Their contact information is here.

When did it become fashionable for people with power to punch down on vulnerable youth?

This week, House Republicans refused to approve a special license plate to raise money for community college scholarships to LGBTQ+ students. Every single one of them voted against it, including the Legislature’s only openly gay Republican.

Arizona currently has a whopping 105 special license plates.2 A portion of each purchase helps raise money for the special interest group who applied for the creation of the plate. None of this involves state dollars; the sponsoring organization fronts the cost. Lawmakers tend to approve every request they get, even though some of the plates raise money for controversial or hate groups.

In other words: The “In God We Trust” plate that funds the hate group Alliance Defending Freedom is OK with these guys. The “Choose Life” plate that funds the anti-abortion Arizona Life Coalition, an arm of the theocratic bigots at the Center for Arizona Policy, is just fine with them. But a plate that helps vulnerable youth go to college? Absolutely not.

The naysayers wouldn’t even put a name to their bigotry. Other than Leo Biasiucci (R-30), who said with an uncomfortable, patronizing smirk that the plate was “not what we are looking for,” not a single Republican uttered a word to explain their vote.

Democracy

HB2007, sponsored by John Gillette (R-30), would make it illegal for anyone to receive money or other compensation for registering people to vote based on the number of registrations they collect. This assumes nefarious activities and penalizes voter registration efforts. Gov. Hobbs vetoed a similar bill in 2023. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2017, sponsored by Rachel Keshel (R-17), would ban voting centers in Arizona and return the state to precinct-based voting, requiring under 1,000 registered voters at each precinct. Every voter would be assigned a neighborhood polling location; the ballots of voters who go to the wrong polling place would be thrown out. Before Arizona's shift to its current voting center model, our elections were plagued by long lines and technology issues, and tens of thousands of people's votes were never counted for being cast at the wrong location. The sponsor also introduced this ridiculous, deeply flawed proposal last year; the bill did not pass. An identical ballot measure, HCR2002, would bypass Gov. Hobbs’ veto pen. Both scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HCR2002, sponsored by Rachel Keshel (R-17), would ban voting centers in Arizona and return the state to precinct-based voting, requiring under 1,000 registered voters at each precinct. Every voter would be assigned a neighborhood polling location; the ballots of voters who go to the wrong polling place would be thrown out. Before Arizona's shift to its current voting center model, our elections were plagued by long lines and technology issues, and tens of thousands of people's votes were never counted for being cast at the wrong location. Keshel (formerly known as Jones) also introduced this ridiculous, deeply flawed proposal last year; the bill did not pass. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HCR2013, sponsored by Alexander Kolodin (R-3), would restrict early ballot dropoffs to end the Friday before Election Day, and would require early voters to reconfirm their address each election cycle. According to the Arizona Secretary of State, dropping off a ballot on Election Day or the day before is the second most popular method of voting for Maricopa County voters, and eliminating this “late early” option would inconvenience hundreds of thousands of voters, doubtless leading to significant disenfranchisement. In addition, voters would be assigned an “early voter ID number” that they would have to write correctly on their ballot envelope in order for the ballot to be opened and counted. Identical to HB2673, but structured as a ballot referral that would bypass the governor’s veto. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

Education

SB1041, sponsored by John Kavanagh (R-3), would allow school board candidates to use Arizona’s electronic signature portal, E-Qual, to gather signatures. Stacey Travers (D-12) introduced an identical bill, HB2151. Scheduled for House Federalism, Military Affairs & Elections Committee, Wednesday. SUPPORT.

SB1255, sponsored by Shawnna Bolick (R-2), would require each school district and individual public school to post on its website information on students’ race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and age that is meant for the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. Schools would also have to complete a new survey on bullying, fighting and harassment. Public schools are already subject to many laws covering discrimination and bullying, making this an excessive overreach. Meanwhile, kids at ESA voucher-funded schools have no such protections. Scheduled for House Education Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2018, sponsored by Matt Gress (R-4), would allow private and for-profit universities in Arizona to provide taxpayer-funded financial assistance to students in teacher training programs on the same terms as those at Arizona’s three state universities. This bill represents not only privatization without oversight, but poor value for tax money. House Appropriations Committee chair David Livingston (R-28) calls Arizona's current focus on public money for public programs "discriminating against religious institutions" and has drawn a line in the sand, warning the Teachers Academy won't get any new money unless Hobbs signs this bill. Passed House 3rd party lines 2/11. Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2022, sponsored by Selina Bliss (R-1), would allow K-12 public and private schools to authorize employees to carry firearms on school grounds. The school would have to notify law enforcement of how many (but not which) employees are carrying, ensure the employees have a certification from an ADE-approved list of training programs, and keep their names confidential, including from parents at the school. The bill also gives these employees immunity from any liability if they are "acting in good faith during active threat events." Polls regularly find that the public does not support arming teachers. The bill was written by the Arizona Citizens Defense League, a pro-gun group. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2375, sponsored by Pamela Carter (R-4), would require school districts to begin special education evaluations within 15 days of a parent's written request, or provide written notice of refusal, if the request is filed between May 1 and September 1 (much of which is during summer break). This requirement, which is already in State Board of Education rule, places a burden on schools which are already overwhelmed with the volume of expensive requests. Codifying these demands will pull services away from students with existing IEPs whose needs are met by the same employees who evaluate students. Backed by anti-public education groups. Scheduled for Senate Education Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

LGBTQ+

HB2062, sponsored by Lisa Fink (R-27), would remove any reference to gender in Arizona law and replace it with “sex,” defined as the male or female label assigned to someone at birth based on their physical and reproductive characteristics. This narrow, inflexible and unscientific definition of biological sex would eliminate any legal recognition of transgender people, and raise their risk of experiencing violence (which is already much higher than average). Known as an “erasure” bill, this bill is based on model legislation from a right-wing think tank and an anti-trans hate group. Gov. Hobbs vetoed this bill last year. Scheduled for Senate Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2112, sponsored by Nick Kupper (R-25), would require Arizonans to prove they are at least 18 before accessing "online pornography." The bill’s broad language leaves a lot to interpretation; the ACLU warns this could ban sites that contain information on HIV/AIDS, sex education and the LGBTQ+ community. Though the first lesson on fighting tyranny is “Do not obey in advance,” many platforms are doing just that — over-complying to avoid liability. In this case, that means removing lifesaving sex education materials and LGBTQ+ content. Scheduled for Senate Judiciary & Elections Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

HB2113, sponsored by Nick Kupper (R-25), would ban the display of certain flags on public property in Arizona, such as LGBTQ+ Pride and Black Lives Matter flags. The flags would be banned from state, city, county and school buildings on the grounds that they promote "divisive messages." The bill, which appears to be driven by the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Libs of Tiktok, is so far-reaching that people with flag stickers on their cars who drive onto public property would be breaking the law. It presents free speech issues and will cause vulnerable students to feel uncomfortable or unsafe in school simply for being who they are. A family was recently run out of a far East Valley community for displaying a Pride flag. Scheduled for Senate Government Committee, Wednesday. OPPOSE.

Water

HB2203, sponsored by Gail Griffin (R-19), increases the time frame for allowing acreage to be irrigated if it’s under the groundwater protection of an active management area. This would likely result in more destructive groundwater pumping. The bill is retroactive, so it would apply to the Douglas AMA. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

HB2551, sponsored by Lupe Diaz (R-19), would extend the application period an additional 6 months for individuals to claim a grandfathered groundwater right in the Willcox AMA. The current deadline is April 8, 2026. Extending the application period also extends the official confirmation that an applicant will indeed have water rights; small farmers are unhappy with the lack of certainty and are not sure how to account for planting if they must wait another half-year. Scheduled for Senate Natural Resources Committee, Tuesday. OPPOSE.

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2025 Session Timeline

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFriday, 3/28 Last day for a bill to get out of committees in its crossover house
(and the last day to use RTS until a budget drops)
Tuesday, 4/22 100th Day of Session (the stated end goal; can be changed)
Monday, 6/30 Last day to pass a constitutionally mandated state budget

Flag this handy list of contact info, committee chairs and assignments:

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