Sine Die! LAMA End-Of-Session Update 2024
Photo credit: Arizona Capitol Times
The Arizona State Legislature reached Sine Die on Saturday, June 15, 2024. Below is a short list of LAMA’s legislative activity during the 2024 session. Download the PDF below.
Bills We Supported
HB 2054 – SNAP Eligibility Probation Compliance
HB2054 SNAP Eligibility Probation Compliance. LAMA has been advocating for this policy for 3 years. This bill would ease the stringent requirements around SNAP applications for folks who have been convicted of and incarcerated for non-violent drug related felonies. Since these individuals are regularly drug tested in order to comply with their probation requirements, the many additional requirements the state levels against formerly incarcerated people are redundant bureaucratic red tape that keeps families from receiving help. HB2054 stalled after its first committee hearing.
HB 2749 – Free & Reduced Price School Meals
This appropriations bill sought to provide funding to cover copays for free and reduced price school breakfasts and lunches to students in AZ. This would not provide universal free meals for all students, even though the vast majority of Arizonans support Healthy School Meals For All; instead it covers the $0.70 per student per day copay, allowing students to eat nutritious meals without worrying about payment or accruing debt. Despite the wide public support for HB2749, it was never assigned to a committee We hope to see it in the budget process!
HB 2056 & HB 2024 – On Farm Efficiency Fund
These appropriations bills aimed to set aside money for the Water Irrigation Efficiency Program run through the University of Arizona. The program helps farms and ranches across the state convert to water-saving systems. It has saved more than 36,000 acre feet of water every year for the last 3 years (enough for 220,000 people!). These bills stalled, but we hope to see funds in the 2025 budget!
HB 2815 – Yes In God’s Back Yard
YIGBY aimed to help alleviate AZ’s housing crisis by easing restrictions around houses of worship. It would allow houses of worship to construct low- and middle-income affordable housing in areas that are otherwise zoned to only allow single-family dwellings. People of faith came together to support this bill – many congregations seek to minister to their neighbors in need by providing housing but are not legally allowed to do so. HB2815 received bipartisan support in the House but was never heard in the Senate. Nevertheless, YIGBY enjoyed surprising success in its first outing in Arizona.
HB 2070 – AZ Casitas
This bill, endorsed by LSS-SW, requires all cities with more than 75,000 residents to legalize the construction of casitas, or small cottage homes, on single-family lots located in densely populated areas. Like YIGBY, this bill helps to meet the need for affordable housing in our state. HB2070 passed and has been signed into law!
HB 2677 – Abortion Ban Repeal
This bill sought to overturn the complete abortion ban, which included prison sentences for doctors providing this type of care, written in 1864. Based on ELCA Social Teachings and our community’s concerns, LAMA supported this bill so that our state can make room for policy that reflects the nuance, delicacy, and scientific advancement needed in legislation around reproductive care. HB2677 passed and has been signed into law.
Bills We Opposed
HB 2502 & HB 2503 – SNAP Eligibility Restrictions
These bills sought to add restrictions to the work requirements for participation in AZ’s SNAP program, as well as raise the number of work hours required. This would result in many seasonal workers, rural residents, and those living with disabilities to be dropped from the program; otherwise, those who failed to meet the work requirements would be required to participate in “work force training classes” though these classes do little to address the reasons for employment struggles. Even though these bills passed both chambers, they were vetoed.
HB 2547 – Voting Centers Ban
This bill would have banned the use of voting centers in Arizona, eliminate early in-person voting, and excessively limit precinct size. It would both make it harder for counties to hold functional elections and for Arizonans to cast their votes. HB2547 tied in the Senate and failed!
HB 2787 – Voting Equipment inspection.
This bill originally sought to allow any elected official in Arizona free access to inspect voting equipment, which opens up a myriad of problems. HB2787 stalled due to major opposition from the public.
HB 2782 – Homeless Shelter Fund
This bill initially offered incredibly hostile and punitive revisions to the ways cities can contract hotels for shelter accommodations. It initially failed, but was passed under reconsideration. The amendment removed the harshest language and instead targeted drug related crimes with more ferocity. HB2279 and SB1238 resurrect other parts of the policy; overall this bill includes many things that make mixed hoteling and other shelter options more difficult for cities to run at a time when we need more options, not fewer. Due to strong opposition advocacy, HB2782, in all iterations, has stalled.
Ballot Referrals
This year, the legislature spent a good deal of energy debating various ballot proposals to be voted on by the public in November. These Concurrent Resolutions follow the same approval process as regular bills, so we have been actively advocating on them as well.
HCR 2060 – Illegal Immigration State Crime
This policy seeks to make crossing the border anywhere other than a legal port of entry a state crime, allowing all law enforcement agencies to arrest people for immigrating illegally. Both chambers narrowly passed this resolution after lengthy debate; this resolution will be on the ballot this November. OPPOSE.
HCR 2032 – Voting Centers Ban
This resolution mirrors HB2547; it seeks to outlaw voting centers and curtail early voting. This resolution and it is currently stalled. OPPOSE.
We are interested to find out what additional citizen ballot initiatives make it to the election in November. Watch this space for updates from our policy council.
The Budget Package
The legislature has completed budget negotiations. We were looking for several items, such as continued funding for the State Housing Trust, to be included in the FY2025 budget and are largely pleased with Governor Hobbs’ budget proposal. Two programs we hoped to receive funding during the budget negotiations were…
On Farm Efficiency Fund – This fund provides the Water Irrigation Efficiency program the funding it needs. As agriculture is the #1 use of water in our state, this program is vital to helping our farmers and ranchers steward this precious resource responsibly. The program is looking for $30 million to continue operation.
Free & Reduced Price School Meals – To cover the copay of free and reduced price school meals for Arizona’s students, advocates are asking for $4.5 million. This breaks down to $0.70 per day per eligible student. The state has provided this funding for the last several years, but it expired this month.
Update: It doesn't appear (to us) that either of these programs received their full funding in the budget.
The budget package passed with near-minimum support in both chambers. Even those who supported the package did so reluctantly, describing it as far from perfect.
Below is a recap of the 5 biggest losers, budget-wise, as articulated by the Arizona Agenda:
Opioid treatment. The budget rededicates almost $200 million of opioid settlement funds to the Department of Corrections. Those funds are supposed to be dedicated to combating addiction, but will instead be used to “offset past and current opioid-related costs” to the department. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told 12News’ Brahm Resnik she would sue Gov. Katie Hobbs and legislative leaders for sweeping the funds, noting that misusing them could lead to future restrictions.
K-12 education. Democrats were upset that the budget didn’t contain any cuts to the state’s school voucher program, known as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. Still, Hobbs got a win by requiring schools that receive vouchers to fingerprint all teaching staff and personnel who have unsupervised contact with students. The budget also curtails the state’s School Tuition Organization program, which offers tax credits for donations to support private school tuition. That program will now be capped at $135 million per year.
Water funding. Water was perhaps the biggest loser in this year’s budget. Besides a host of sweeps to smaller water funds, lawmakers canceled their planned deposit of $333 million into the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority, which provides grants and supports long-term water infrastructure projects.
Roads and highways. Lawmakers kicked the can down the road on dozens of highway construction projects, including a much-anticipated I-10 widening project. The budget delays hundreds of millions of dollars of planned upgrades and repairs to highways across the state.
Universities. Universities also got the shaft under the bipartisan budget. Arizona State University will bear the largest cuts, at nearly $11 million per year in ongoing reductions. The University of Arizona will lose about $6.5 million per year, plus another $1.5 million annually from its Health Sciences campus. Northern Arizona University will lose around $4 million per year.