Latest news with #HouseRegulatoryOversightCommittee
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona GOP wages legislative war on transgender existence
Sen. John Kavanagh in October 2024. Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0 Republicans in the Arizona Legislature have sponsored and supported several pieces of legislation this year that focus on regulating the experiences of transgender people, who make up around 1% of the state's population. That's in addition to attacks on transgender people from President Donald Trump, who has issued multiple executive orders aimed at erasing them from public life. On Tuesday, the House Regulatory Oversight Committee approved along party lines two repeat proposals from Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, related to preferred name and pronoun use and who can use certain bathrooms and locker rooms in K-12 public schools. Over the past decade, Kavanagh has repeatedly pushed to keep trans people out of public facilities like bathrooms that align with their gender identity. In recent years, he's focused on attempts to dismantle inclusive policies at public schools. Kavanagh's Senate Bill 1002 would ban teachers from referring to a student by a name or pronoun that differs from their given name or biological sex without first obtaining written permission from a parent. But even with parental permission, the bill would allow school employees to disregard a student's identity without consequences if they have a 'religious or moral' objection. Before voting against the bill, Tucson Democrat Consuelo Hernandez said that she was tired of seeing the same bill recycled year after year. She added that she was raised to treat people with respect, and that includes using whichever pronouns the person she's addressing requests. 'It is very disappointing that we're not working on issues that are actually affecting Arizonans and we just go after trans kids and it's just very exhausting and I'm sorry for those who have to hear this,' Hernandez said. Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, made light of Hernandez's remarks, quipping that he thought Democrats liked recycling. Another of Kavanagh's bills, Senate Bill 1003, would prohibit trans students from using locker rooms and bathrooms that don't match their biological sex. Schools that don't comply could be subject to civil suits for compensation for any 'psychological, emotional and physical harm suffered' by other students who encounter trans classmates in any of those locations. It would also ban trans students from staying in hotel rooms on school trips with classmates or teammates of the opposite biological sex. Kavanagh told the committee members on Tuesday that his proposal would balance cisgender students' desire for privacy with trans students' discomfort using facilities that don't align with their gender identity. He claimed it does so by allowing trans students to request other accommodations, such as the use of single-occupancy or staff bathrooms. Paul Bixler, a transgender woman and advocate, told the committee that this policy was likely to violate the privacy of trans students by 'outing' them to their peers when the rest of the students notice that they always use single-occupancy or staff bathrooms. Bixler said that Kavangh's proposal would create an 'atmosphere of exclusion, alienation and disenfranchisement.' Kolodin, a cisgender man, said that he didn't understand how forcing trans students to use separate bathrooms was a privacy issue, and that he personally felt a greater sense of privacy when using a single-occupancy bathroom. Both of Kavanagh's bills already passed through the Senate in February with only Republicans in support. Last year, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed two nearly identical bills that Kavanagh sponsored. But those are far from the only proposed pieces of legislation aimed at transgender people that are moving through the Arizona Legislature. On Feb. 12, by a vote of 32-27, Republicans in the House of Representatives approved House Bill 2062, which would enshrine a narrow definition of biological sex into state law based on a person's physical reproductive characteristics. Critics of the bill, sponsored by anti-trans advocate Rep. Lisa Fink, R-Glendale, said it was an attempt to scrub transgender people from existence. That bill was approved along party lines by the Senate's Government and Rules committees earlier this month and will next head for a vote by the full chamber. On Feb. 19, Republicans in the House voted to approve House Bill 2438, which would ban transgender people who were born in Arizona from amending their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Rachel Keshel, a Tucson Republican and member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, claimed that its purpose was only to bring the state's birth certificate law in line with the U.S. Constitution and to protect 'the integrity and accuracy of vital records.' Democrats argued that it was simply another attack on transgender people who just want to live their lives in peace. Within the past week, HB2438 was approved along party lines by the Senate Health and Human Services and Rules committees and will next be headed for a vote from the full chamber. These efforts from the majority party in both chambers of the Arizona Legislature, alongside Trump's executive orders that banned transgender people from serving in the military and prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on girls school sports teams, are examples of increasing hostility from Republicans toward the trans community over the past several years. In February, Keshel said that her HB2438 aligned with Trump's first anti-trans executive order, which sought to erase transgender and nonbinary identities in the eyes of the federal government. The Republicans' anti-trans bills are likely to pass through the Republican-controlled House and Senate, but will almost certainly meet their end via a veto from Hobbs. Hobbs has promised to block any discriminatory legislation aimed at the LGBTQ community, and has made good on that promise, vetoing multiple anti-trans bills annually since she took office in 2023. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona bill for executions by firing squad advances in State Capitol due to concerns with lethal injections
The Brief A bill proposes firing squads for executions instead of lethal injections, citing flaws in the current method. If the bill passes, inmates who committed crimes before Nov. 23, 1992 can choose between a firing squad or the gas chamber. Retired Judge David Duncan was commissioned by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs to review lethal injection protocols, raising concerns before he was fired. PHOENIX - A bill that would ask Arizona voters to allow the use of firing squads to execute death row inmates has advanced at the Arizona State Capitol. On Tuesday, Feb. 18, the House Regulatory Oversight Committee passed Resolution 20-24. It would require firing squads to carry out executions instead of lethal injection. The bill also says inmates who committed crimes before Nov. 23, 1992, can choose to die by firing squad or the gas chamber. What we know Retired federal judge David Duncan led a review of lethal injection protocols ordered by Governor Katie Hobbs. Hobbs fired him last fall, saying she lost confidence in him. What they're saying Duncan raised concerns about transparency and said lethal injections are too flawed. The lawmaker who sponsored the firing squad bill cited Duncan as part of his reasoning for the proposed legislation.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chemtrail believers sway GOP lawmakers to support geoengineering ban
Jodi Brackett speaks to the House Regulatory Oversight Committee on Jan. 28, 2025, alongside pictures of contrails she believes are evidence of "chemtrails" in Arizona. Screenshot via ACTV/ Conspiracy theorists came out in force Tuesday afternoon to support a Republican bill that aims to ban 'geoengineering,' citing the long debunked 'chemtrails' conspiracy theory as evidence that nefarious actors are already turning Arizona's skies into a laboratory and treating its unsuspecting residents as guinea pigs. 'This started when I noticed lines in the sky that did not look normal,' Jodi Brackett told the House Regulatory Oversight Committee. As Brackett stood at the podium in the legislative hearing room, a man held a collage of photos of contrails taken in Arizona. Brackett said she brought the issue to freshman GOP legislator Lisa Fink's attention. Claims that Arizona has seen an increase in contrails left behind by airliners was a major theme among many of the speakers who came to support the bill. 'Whether you know it or not, your body is part of their laboratory,' Crystal Hansen told the committee claiming that the vapor trails left behind by airliners are 'not condensation,' citing a website that has posted altered videos and photos as 'evidence' of the conspiracy. The geography of the Phoenix metropolitan area, where many of those who spoke in favor of Fink's House Bill 2056 said they reside, plays a role in those long-hanging contrails that many see as 'proof' of a larger conspiracy. The region sits basically in a bowl surrounded by mountains, with an inversion above that bowl that traps the air below it. That results in high ozone and other pollutant levels — as well as contrails that linger in the air longer than they do in most other places. 'We, the people, are extremely concerned with all the trails in our skies,' Melissa Price said to the committee, adding that she wants lawmakers to send the bill to the ballot for voters to decide on. But Price did concede that 'even with all the weather modification' she claimed was happening, the state is 'not seeing any rain' and remains facing the effects of a historic drought. Fink's bill would ban geoengineering in Arizona. In simple terms, geoengineering is the practice of intentionally attempting to modify the atmosphere. In recent years, it has been explored as a possible way to combat the increasingly extreme effects of climate change. The field is largely theoretical with only small projects taking place, some of which have faced backlash from local communities. Geoengineering has recently become the focus of groups that have previously pushed unfounded conspiracy theories about vaccines. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration currently monitors the planet's atmosphere for signs of geoengineering programs by other nations or by small venture capitalist backed groups. The emerging field has caused fierce debate among scientists, some of whom see it as a way to combat mankind's impact on the planet, while others see it as another way to create climate chaos. Many refer to the practice as climate intervention, and some scientists have been studying it as a means of combating climate change. These efforts have included studying things like solar radiation modification, a process that aims to decrease surface temperatures by reflecting sunlight away from the planet. Last year, Tennessee lawmakers passed a law that banned geoengineering, with lawmakers during debate alluding to the debunked 'chemtrails' conspiracy theory. Online conspiracy theorists have long pointed to the condensation left behind by airliners as being part of a larger conspiracy to modify the weather or poison the populace, though no evidence of such programs exist and the contrails planes sometimes leave behind are little more than water vapor that has frozen into ice crystals. Other speakers also saw the bill as a way to combat other bogus geoengineering conspiracy theories that have long had a place in the fringes of conspiracy culture. Leslie Forster told the committee that the bill would help protect Arizonans from the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, also known as HAARP, which studies the planet's upper atmosphere. The research project has been accused of causing a litany of weather-related events, despite its inability to impact the weather. Speakers also confused sulfur iodide with sodium iodide, a chemical commonly used in cloud seeding. Cloud seeding eventually became a focus of the committee, as Fareed Bailey, a lobbyist representing the Salt River Project, said the utility was concerned about the bill's ban on it. Fink's HB2056 bill would ban a litany of geoengineering practices, including cloud seeding, deploying aerosol particles in the stratosphere, releasing chaff into the atmosphere, solar radiation modification or any other attempts to modify the weather. Her legislation is similar to several others filed in other states this year. Bailey said SRP has been studying cloud seeding as a possible way to help with the state's water woes, but all research has been theoretical in computer models. SRP has not flown any aircraft to conduct cloud seeding tests, Bailey said. 'We do not want to close the door to this promising technology,' he said, adding that silver iodide, the main chemical used in cloud seeding, has been found to be largely non-toxic. Bailey's claim was met with boos and jeers from many in the audience. The bill initially was written to bar any government agency, research project, university, 'public or private organization' or 'military force' from engaging in geoengineering, with violators facing a $500,000 fine and a felony, with up to three years of prison; the the director of the Department of Water Resources would have been tasked with investigating any claim of geoengineering. But the GOP-led committee amended the proposal to remove those penalties and the responsibility of the head of the water agency, instead allow citizens to bring any geoengineering claims to court, where they'd be awarded injunctive relief if they proved their case. The amendment also adds a ban on universities funding any research into solar radiation modification. One attendee felt the amendment lacked 'teeth' and suggested that the punishment for geoengineering be treason — which is punishable by death — eliciting cheers from the attendees. Others asked members of the committee to 'get on Instagram' to see the evidence of geoengineering that is allegedly happening out of Sky Harbor International Airport. Many cited increased issues with asthma as proof of the geoengineering plot. With the increase in population and heat, the Phoenix metro area has seen a marked increase in the number of high pollution days, which leads to more adverse reactions to those with asthma and other breathing complications. Some in attendance also appeared to believe in other conspiracy theories, sporting t-shirts supporting election reforms based on election fraud falsities and sharing with the committee their belief that a large number of children are being sex trafficked, a core component of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Local election conspiracy theorist Gail Golec also came out to support the bill Tuesday afternoon. The formal GOP platform makes no mention of climate change, greenhouse gases, the environment, pollution, clean air or clean water. It makes a brief mention of conservation in a section on restoring 'American Beauty.' And although there is broad scientific consensus that human activity is causing climate change, and that its effects are becoming more extreme, Arizona Republicans largely reject that it is happening at all. Last year, state Senate Republicans backed a bill to bar state government and universities from spending money to reduce greenhouse gases or research climate change, deeming them both 'Marxist' ideas that are 'anti-God.' Democratic committee members voiced concern that they did not hear from any experts, such as physicians or scientists. When the minority lawmakers said they didn't see evidence of what the bill's proponents were saying, many in attendance booed, leading Republican Committee Chair Joseph Chaplik to threaten bringing in security if outbursts continued. Rep. Rachel Keshel, R-Tucson, who is married to conspiracy theorist Seth Keshel, said she has seen 'adequate research' that the alleged chemicals involved in the fictional geoengineering leads to increased Azlhiemers. And Chaplik said his inability to see individual airplanes flying more than 20,000 feet above Phoenix that are leaving contrails in the sky was concerning enough to support changing Arizona law to ban geoengineering. 'You're seeing these in the sky at nighttime or early morning, you're really not seeing the planes fully flying around the air,' he said, adding that he has been talking with Fink about the issue for 'a few months.' The bill passed out of the committee along party lines, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats opposing. The bill heads next to the full House of Representatives for consideration. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
