Latest news with #ArizonaSenate
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
When will Arizona voters get wise to Arizona's sorry excuse for a Legislature?
The Arizona Senate reportedly returns to the state Capitol this week after a chock-full month of doing, well nothing much, actually. This, following four arduous months of doing … well… I say senators "reportedly' are returning on May 28 because the Arizona House returned on May 20 after a two-week break wherein House Speaker Steve Montenegro promptly announced another two-week recess. It seems budget negotiations – those conversations that take place among a select few with absolutely no public input – aren't going so well. Heaven forbid our leaders get themselves to the Capitol and hear from the public before deciding how to spend our money. Or address a few of the bigger issues plaguing our state. Like a shortage of houses that people can actually afford. Or our crying need to protect what water we have and to find new sources of the stuff. Or the fact that $300 million in dedicated education funding will disappear on June 30, as Proposition 123 expires. For several years, our leaders have kicked that particular can down the road and now we've reached the end of it. Lawmakers will either have to find the $300 million in lost Prop. 123 funding elsewhere (as they have pledged to do) or stiff the schools. Republicans want to tie an extension of Prop. 123 to school vouchers. Basically, they want to hold Arizona's public schools hostage unless voters agree next year to protect Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, declaring that parents have a constitutional right to public money to pay their kids' private school tuition tab. Still, it's not like legislators haven't done anything in the first 134 days of what is supposed to be a 100-day session. They did pass a bill mandating that high school students be taught about the Gulf of America — a bill that Gov. Katie Hobbs promptly vetoed. And they established a Turquoise Alert system for missing Indigenous people, a bill that Hobbs signed. But they, with Hobbs' help, also trampled the constitutional rights of Scottsdale voters so that Axon, which makes Tasers, can build the state's largest apartment complex, voiding a successful campaign to put the issue to a public vote. And they spent a fair amount of time scheming to cut care for the state's most seriously disabled children, though in the end they didn't have the votes to discontinue to the Parents as Paid Caregivers program. Opinion: It took a seventh-grader to break Arizona's fight over disabled funding Fortunately, the Legislature still has a month to consider the affairs of state. Like the growing number of working Arizona parents who can't afford decent daycare and are on the Department of Economic Security's waitlist to get a childcare subsidy. The Legislature will either help those 4,500 children as part of their secret budget negotiations or tell their parents to suck I'm thinking the latter is likely. You know who will have no trouble getting help? Ken Kendrick, the bazillionaire owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and one of the state's biggest contributors to Republican politicians. Look for our leaders to pony up a massive subsidy to fix up Chase Field. The only real question is whether they will use only tax money generated by the team or reach more deeply into our I know. It is our sacred obligation to provide the team with $500 million — possibly double that once interest is factored in — to renovate the publicly owned ballpark built for a team that now worth $1.6 billion, according to Forbes. One that Kendrick, bought for $238 million in 2004. Opinion: Deal to keep the Arizona Diamondbacks is a beanball aimed at taxpayers We either pay up or lose the team and the Valley will become a sports wasteland and little children will suffer because they want to be taken out the ballgame, but alas, there won't be one. Yeah, don't lay awake tonight worrying about the baseball team. Our leaders have their priorities, after all, and I'm confident that before June is out, they'll come up with a way to help the D-backs. The kids, not so much. Reach Roberts at Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @ Subscribe to today. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ Senate returns. Will housing, school issues be fixed? | Opinion
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Lives are on the line': Families fight to preserve Arizona's Parents as Paid Caregivers program
Cindi Mittlestadt and her daughter, Patricia Huber, at a press conference at the state Capitol on April 15, 2025, calling on legislators to pass funding to extend services for disabled Arizonans without sharply limiting a program that pays parents to be caregivers for their children as Republicans want to do. Photo via Arizona Senate Democrats | Bluesky Jaime Kelley struggled to hold back the tears as she pleaded with lawmakers to save the program that lets her care for her adopted daughter, who requires around-the-clock ICU-level care in her home. 'We've been on the edge of a cliff,' she said, explaining that she and other parents are about 'to crack' under the stress of caring for profoundly disabled children while trying to convince legislators of their plight in the hopes that they won't scuttle the funding that lets them do so. Through her tears, Kelley spoke directly to her husband, who was watching the livestream of Tuesday's House Appropriations Committee hearing with their daughter, and told him not to let Evelyn see her on the verge of breaking down in the crowded hearing room at the state Capitol. Then Kelley turned her focus back to the 21 legislators sitting in front of her, as she began to lose the battle to keep her tears at bay. 'Please hear me,' she begged them as her tears began to flow. When the hearing concluded, more than four hours after it began and after more than a dozen members of the developmentally disabled community and their caregivers — mostly parents of children who need extraordinary care — the GOP-controlled committee narrowly passed the bill that Republicans have crafted to keep the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) from going bankrupt in just a few weeks. While that might seem like a good thing for those parents and advocates, none were pleased with the outcome. All were there in opposition to House Bill 2945, primarily because of the restrictions it places on the Parents as Paid Caregivers (PPCG) program that has been a lifeline to families like Kelley's. The PPCG pays parents to provide in-home care to their own children, but only if they require 'extraordinary care' above and beyond typical parenting tasks. That might include assisting a teenager who has cerebral palsy, autism or cognitive disabilities with tasks like bathing, dressing and eating. The program was initially entirely federally funded, but beginning this month, the state is on the hook for around one-third of the cost. The program has expanded over the last year from about 3,000 participants to around 6,000, which came with substantial cost increases, accounting for a large chunk of a $122 million shortfall in the DDD budget. That shortfall threatens to shut down services for disabled people in Arizona at the end of the month unless the Legislature acts. And while both Republicans and Democrats are united in saying they won't let that happen, the funding has become a political football, with Republicans blaming Gov. Katie Hobbs for expanding the PPCG program without legislative approval. They have said they won't give her the money to keep DDD solvent without major reforms. Hobbs in turn has demanded they send her the money now and propose reforms to the system later. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The PPCG program was implemented in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when caregiving service providers couldn't find enough workers to provide in-home care to people with disabilities. The program instead allowed parents to be paid to provide care for their own children. Those children would still qualify for Medicaid-funded at-home care even if the Parents as Paid Caregivers Program didn't exist, there just likely wouldn't be any workers available to provide the care. The GOP's proposal to fix the funding gap would implement a 40-hour weekly cap on PPCG services beginning in July — and it would mandate that the state request permission from the federal government to reduce that cap to 20-hour-per-week by July 2026. Parent after parent told the panel that doing so would be devastating, and it would leave many families with no way to care for their child — increasing the likelihood that they would be taken out of their homes and separated from their families so they could be institutionalized in a group care facility. 'These families are not OK. Lives are on the line here,' said Michele Thorne, the parent of two autistic children and CEO of Care 4 the Caregivers, a Phoenix company that provides support for parents. 'This is critical care for disabled children. Why are we doing this?' 'When you cut hours for parents, what you're doing is cutting services for children,' she added. Kathleen Muldoon said cutting the amount she can be paid to care for her 11-year-old son to just 20 hours would mean she would have to quit her job as a professor at Midwestern University in Glendale. She said her son, Gideon, has 42 separate diagnoses and requires 'total care' every minute of the day — even while he's asleep. And while Muldoon and her husband get outside help 'when we can find it,' they simply can't right now, because there are not enough caregivers to meet demand. 'Guess what? I don't want to be doing this. I just want to be 'mom,'' she said. 'But we don't have the support to do so.' Republicans looking to cut costs for PPCG say they want to see the services that parents are now being paid to do instead be provided by third-party contractors. Parents and advocates say that's just not feasible, as there's been a workforce crisis stretching back more than 20 years because the jobs to provide in-home services are both difficult and low-paying. Rep. Justin Olson, a Republican from Mesa, essentially blamed the PPCG program for eliminating those private sector jobs, and said that the workforce would materialize if parents were no longer getting paid. He tried to amend the bill to completely end PPCG, but it was overwhelmingly rejected on a 1-20 vote, with Olson the lone vote in favor. Republicans said that the PPCG program has been mismanaged by Hobbs and is a poor use of state money. Rep. Matt Gress, a Phoenix Republican and the vice-chairman of the panel, said it would be 'fiscally irresponsible' to simply fund it without putting in 'guardrails' to limit payments to parents caring for their children. But limiting the program could have profound effects on the state's bottom line, advocates warned lawmakers. Right now, the average parent who qualifies for PPCG receives about $45,000 a year, said Brandy Petrone, a lobbyist for the Arizona Association of Providers for People with Disabilities. If parents lose that income and are forced to send their children to a group care facility because they can't find in-home caregivers, that will cost the state about $200,000 a year. The reality of the situation, she said, is that PPCG is essential because there is a 'workforce crisis' that has existed for years. 'Parents were a workforce that was available to meet that need,' Petrone explained. Paying parents to care for their children — often for work they were already doing — is a lifeline, said Amy Haley, the mother of a 13-year-old son who has medical and behavioral issues and is regularly violent with his caregivers. Haley left her career to care for Caleb, but struggles to find caregivers willing to take on the 'incredibly risky job' of caring for him. Then, when PPCG began, she was able to both get training to be a caregiver — all parents in the program have to be trained and certified — and be more than just free labor. 'We're now respected parts of my son's team, not just 'mom,'' she said. 'And we don't have any turnover — I'm not going to leave.' Slashing the number of hours she can be paid for to care for Caleb would force her and other parents back to work. 'So, who is going to provide that care then?' Haley said. There was a bipartisan proposal that would have retained the 40-hour-a-week cap on pay while also implementing some reforms on PPCG, including not paying parents while they're driving or when they aren't in the presence of their child, but it fell victim to partisan politics. Mere minutes before the committee convened, House Speaker Steve Montenegro assigned three Republicans to the panel — Reps. Selina Bliss, Michael Carbone and John Gillette — to ensure there were enough votes to ram through the version of the bill favored by GOP leaders. Those additions meant that the bipartisan amendment introduced by Rep. Julie Willoughby, a Chandler Republican and a nurse, was rejected on a 10-11 vote. The bill ultimately passed by the same one-vote margin, a result that brought Willoughby to tears as she directly addressed the parents and advocates in the room. 'I choose you as my hill to die on. I'm sorry,' she said. 'I'm pro-life, and I'm pro-life through the entire spectrum of life.' Rep. Jeff Weninger, another Republican from Chandler, joined Willoughby in voting against the bill. He chided his GOP colleagues and Hobbs, accusing both sides of 'playing politics' on the issue. 'This should be the last thing we should do it on,' he said. 'Get in the damn (negotiating) room already.' Democrats were sharply critical of the move to kill the bipartisan proposal and assailed the Republicans for turning funding for disabled people into a political power struggle. 'They will say the governor failed, but so did the Republicans. Why aren't they fighting for you?' said Rep. Lorena Austin, a Democrat from Mesa. Rep. Stacey Travers, a Phoenix Democrat, said families shouldn't have to come to the Capitol to beg for money like they've been forced to do. 'I'm ashamed that this is how we're representing you, because we should be doing better,' she said. David Livingston, the Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee, repeatedly blamed Hobbs, both for the program's spending and for what he said was her refusal to meet with Republicans to find a solution. 'Invite us to the 9th Floor' where the governor's office is, he said. 'We will sit at your table if you're not willing to sit at ours. You have chosen not to participate, at all.' 'If you want to do a meeting today, I will be there,' he added. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. silences measles questions during ‘Make America Healthy Again' event in Arizona
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking at a Make America Healthy Again press conference in the Arizona Senate on April 8, 2025. Screenshot via ACTV/ U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got an enthusiastic welcome from the Grand Canyon State's Make America Healthy Again crowd during a stop at the Arizona Senate on Tuesday. A small but noisy crowd that gathered in the Arizona Senate building — including comedian and prominent anti-vaxxer Rob Schneider, a Scottsdale resident — cheered and applauded while Kennedy praised two Republican-backed health bills that have already passed through the legislature. One would direct the state to request a federal waiver to ban recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps, from using them to purchase soda. Another, which garnered unanimous support from legislators in both parties, would ban ultra-processed foods from school lunches. 'This is a historic moment of leadership for our state,' Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, said on Tuesday. 'Arizona is once again proving that we will stand up for what is right, even if we face opposition. We are prioritizing the health of our citizens, our children, over corporate interests. We are choosing science over profit.' But the same crowd that cheered for the Republicans' nutrition legislation booed and yelled insults at a reporter who asked Kennedy about the government's response to a measles outbreak that has killed two children and one adult so far. The outbreak has primarily sickened the unvaccinated, including all three the people who died. 'Let's talk about food!' Kennedy yelled into the microphone as the moderator and crowd shouted down the Associated Press reporter who asked the question. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Kennedy has long been an anti-vaccine activist, but since taking office has given lukewarm support to the MMR vaccine — the inoculation against measles, mumps and rubella — finally saying on April 6 that it's the best way to prevent the measles. Shamp, who is a former nurse, said she was forced out of her previous job because she refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine. House Bill 2164, which would ban 'ultra processed' food from being served at any school that receives federal funding for its meal program, passed unanimously through both chambers of the Arizona Legislature and has a chance of being signed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Hobbs is not shy about vetoing legislation that's lacking support from Democratic legislators. For that reason, the other piece of 'MAHA' legislation that Kennedy was there to support, House Bill 2165, is likely headed for a veto. Both measures were introduced by Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City, who said that for too long people talked and worried about what the harmful ingredients in foods are doing to Americans' health, but no one listened until Kennedy started talking about it. It certainly hasn't ever been a priority for Republicans. Michelle Obama's efforts as first lady to reform the school lunch program by making meals healthier and to get kids exercising were met with derision from Republicans, many of whom disagreed with the idea that the government should closely regulate the contents of school lunches. On Tuesday, Biasiucci mentioned the various food dyes and chemicals that are banned in Europe but are allowed in food in the U.S., as well as the country's high rates of obesity and chronic disease. Several of those chemicals are listed in the description of ultra processed foods in his school lunch bill. The SNAP legislation initially would have sought a waiver to ban recipients from using their benefits to purchase candy and soda, but was later amended to include only soda after opponents, including some in the food and beverage industry, argued that it was too difficult to pin down a definition of candy that didn't encompass foods like cereal and granola bars. Democrats didn't support the proposal, arguing that legislators should do more to ensure the people who rely on SNAP, especially those who live in food deserts, have access to healthy foods instead of banning them from purchasing unhealthier options. Kennedy claimed, without evidence, that any politician who voted against the SNAP bill did so because they're taking money from the soda industry. 'There's no reason to vote against this bill except for corruption,' he said. A proposed amendment to HB2165 from Democratic Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, of Coal Mine Canyon, that would have banned legislators from using their travel-expense money to purchase soda failed on the Senate floor when all Republicans voted against it. Biasiucci claimed that legislation like his would 'save the lives' of school children, including a small group of them gathered at the Senate on Tuesday. But neither he or anyone else there to celebrate and prompt the MAHA agenda mentioned that President Donald Trump's administration canceled roughly $1 billion in spending that was already promised for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farmers. That includes $21 million for Arizona, of which more than $13 million was slated for schools for healthier student meals. They also didn't mention that the Trump administration has rolled back pollution regulations, including those for mercury, soot and coal ash. Pollution has a bigger impact on children than it does on adults, according to the Children's Environmental Health Collaborative, and can cause asthma, cancer and have negative impacts on their cognitive abilities. Arizona Democrats held their own press conference on Tuesday, just before Kennedy spoke in the Senate, during which Attorney General Kris Mayes criticized the Trump administration's supposed commitment to Make America Health Again while also canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health to fund medical research in Arizona. Hatathlie, who is Navajo, also criticized the Trump administration for its talk about the importance of health while there are still hundreds of open uranium mines on the Navajo Nation that cause higher rates of cancer and birth defects. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Top lawmaker asks Trump admin to scrap report cracking down on cops: 'Destructive and costly'
EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen is asking the Department of Justice to scrap a report that could lead to intense federal oversight of the Phoenix Police Department. In a letter to newly sworn-in Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, Petersen asked the DOJ to retract a report from the Biden administration about civil rights issues within the department. The report would essentially try to get the city of Phoenix to agree to high federal involvement through the DOJ. The June 2024 report said that the department and the city "engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law," including "excessive force" and discriminatory practices against minorities and homeless people. New York Proposal Would Ban Police From Making Traffic Stops For Minor Violations To Pursue 'Racial Equity' "The DOJ's report contained a host of biased and inaccurate findings against the City's Police Department, putting Phoenix on a path for a destructive and costly consent decree that would discourage our brave men and women in blue from reducing crime and protecting innocent Phoenicians. It would also have a tremendous impact on the agency's ability to recruit and retain enough officers to service our communities report," Petersen wrote. Petersen argued that if the police department went under a consent decree with the DOJ, it would create similar challenges to what the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deals with now after coming under a consent decree in 2015, which is expected to exceed a $310 million price tag in the coming months, the Republican lawmaker argued. Read On The Fox News App "Former Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, a Democrat, resigned from his position last year, in large part, due to frustration from the consent decree hanging over his office. He said, 'I'll be damned if I do three terms under federal court oversight, for a debt I never incurred, and not be able to serve this community in the manner that I could if you took the other hand from being tied behind my back. Because the future without law enforcement doesn't look good,'" he said. Blue State Sheriffs Combine Forces To Fight Back Against Sanctuary Laws He acknowledged that the department has pushed for reforms on their terms, saying that there should be accountability for issues with "rogue police agencies or officers," but noted that this is not the way to go about it. "In short, these consent decrees are nothing more than backhanded attempts to hijack police departments and bring them under the control of the federal government," he added. "The consent decrees are unconstitutional and exploited by overreaching presidential administrations." Before being elected to the Senate, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego used his official House office to write to the Biden DOJ voicing opposition to a consent decree in August. Illegal Immigrants Charged In Nike Shoe Heist As Cartels Rob Us Cargo Trains "I strongly urge DOJ to consider entering into a technical assistance letter with the City of Phoenix rather than continue to pursue a consent decree," Gallego wrote. "While the DOJ raises several valid points in its findings report, both PPD and the City of Phoenix already welcome reforms to advance the mission to protect Phoenix's residents from crime and safeguard their civil rights." While Biden was still in office, many progressives in the state argued that there should be federal accountability for the agency. "Phoenix PD needs federal oversight," the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted in October 2024 following an incident in which officers allegedly severely mistreated a deaf, disabled Black man, Tyron McAlpin, who is now suing the city and the offices involved. His charges were scrapped, and the officers received a 24-hour suspension, according to Fox 10 Phoenix. The DOJ did not respond in time to Fox News Digital for article source: Top lawmaker asks Trump admin to scrap report cracking down on cops: 'Destructive and costly'
Fox News
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Top lawmaker asks Trump admin to scrap report cracking down on cops: 'Destructive and costly'
EXCLUSIVE: Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen is asking the Department of Justice to scrap a report that could lead to intense federal oversight of the Phoenix Police Department. In a letter to newly sworn-in Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, Petersen asked the DOJ to retract a report from the Biden administration about civil rights issues within the department. The report would essentially try to get the city of Phoenix to agree to high federal involvement through the DOJ. The June 2024 report said that the department and the city "engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law," including "excessive force" and discriminatory practices against minorities and homeless people. "The DOJ's report contained a host of biased and inaccurate findings against the City's Police Department, putting Phoenix on a path for a destructive and costly consent decree that would discourage our brave men and women in blue from reducing crime and protecting innocent Phoenicians. It would also have a tremendous impact on the agency's ability to recruit and retain enough officers to service our communities report," Petersen wrote. Petersen argued that if the police department went under a consent decree with the DOJ, it would create similar challenges to what the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deals with now after coming under a consent decree in 2015, which is expected to exceed a $310 million price tag in the coming months, the Republican lawmaker argued. "Former Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, a Democrat, resigned from his position last year, in large part, due to frustration from the consent decree hanging over his office. He said, 'I'll be damned if I do three terms under federal court oversight, for a debt I never incurred, and not be able to serve this community in the manner that I could if you took the other hand from being tied behind my back. Because the future without law enforcement doesn't look good,'" he said. He acknowledged that the department has pushed for reforms on their terms, saying that there should be accountability for issues with "rogue police agencies or officers," but noted that this is not the way to go about it. "In short, these consent decrees are nothing more than backhanded attempts to hijack police departments and bring them under the control of the federal government," he added. "The consent decrees are unconstitutional and exploited by overreaching presidential administrations." Before being elected to the Senate, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego used his official House office to write to the Biden DOJ voicing opposition to a consent decree in August. "I strongly urge DOJ to consider entering into a technical assistance letter with the City of Phoenix rather than continue to pursue a consent decree," Gallego wrote. "While the DOJ raises several valid points in its findings report, both PPD and the City of Phoenix already welcome reforms to advance the mission to protect Phoenix's residents from crime and safeguard their civil rights." While Biden was still in office, many progressives in the state argued that there should be federal accountability for the agency. "Phoenix PD needs federal oversight," the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted in October 2024 following an incident in which officers allegedly severely mistreated a deaf, disabled Black man, Tyron McAlpin, who is now suing the city and the offices involved. His charges were scrapped, and the officers received a 24-hour suspension, according to Fox 10 Phoenix. The DOJ did not respond in time to Fox News Digital for comment.
