P.L.A.N. LEGISLATIVE ALERT - UPDATE on HB 2478 County Libraries Strike Everything Amendment‏

UPDATE on HB 2478: County Libraries Strike Everything Amendment

An earlier PLAN message requested your SUPPORT of the HB 2478 strike everything amendment.

The City has been notified that this amendment WILL NOT be heard in the Senate Committee on Government Institutions on Thursday, April 1, 2010. There is no need to attend the meeting.

When a new bill and committee are assigned, a PLAN message will be sent out.

Until that happens, please make sure to keep contacting your legislators and let them know that legislation is needed to remove the state law barrier to true coordination of library service and fair taxation of city residents.

For more information on County Libraries legislation click here.

Source: P.L.A.N.

P.L.A.N. Legislative Alert - SUPPORT HB 2478 County Libraries Strike Everything Amendment‏

HB 2478: County Libraries Strike Everything Amendment

The City of Phoenix requests your SUPPORT of the HB 2478 strike everything amendment. This amendment will be heard in the Senate Committee on Government Institutions (Senate Hearing Room 1) on Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.

HB 2478 Update

In 1986, the Legislature passed a law allowing the creation of library districts with the power to levy property taxes to pay for libraries and library service. One year later, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors formed the Maricopa County Library District (MCLD). In the 1980s Maricopa County was mostly unincorporated but has evolved to be very urbanized today. Many cities and towns in Maricopa County provide their own libraries and library services, but state law provides that taxes collected by library districts cannot be passed to cities and towns. The result is that city residents in Maricopa County pay the library tax but city libraries cannot directly use any of those revenues.

The HB 2478 strike everything amendment will allow a city or town to receive at least 60% of the library taxes its residents pay to a library district in Maricopa or Pima County for the city or town to use for library purposes. The library district would keep 40% of the library tax collected in cities and towns to use for district purposes and would continue to fund unincorporated area of the county. Additionally, these changes would not be effective until fiscal year 2012-2013.

In the early 1990s, a group of public and academic library directors and librarians throughout Maricopa County came together to develop a regional master plan that would coordinate county and city library service. In recent years, coordination with MCLD has been stymied by the 1986 legislative limitations. In October 2009, the library stakeholders group proposed that the MCLD “annually return 50% of tax revenue received through assessment of incorporated cities back to the cities through a reciprocal borrower reimbursement program” to be phased in over a period of up to 10 years. MCLD rejected the proposal. The HB 2478 strike everything amendment removes the state law barrier to true coordination of library service and fair taxation of city residents.

FACTS

In 2008, Phoenix residents paid $6.7 million in property taxes into the MCLD. In that same year, Phoenix received about $600,000 (less than 10% of contributions) in services or revenues from the MCLD: $435,189 in reciprocal borrowing revenue and $165,000 in online database support.

Phoenix residents’ contributions are approximately 32% of total revenues collected in Maricopa County through library district taxes. In the past 12 years, Phoenix residents have contributed more than $50 million to the MCLD.

Currently, the Phoenix Public Library and its branches serve a residential population of more than 1.5 million. The service population of unincorporated Maricopa County is less than 250,000.

This year, Phoenix has enacted additional library service cuts including closing every library except Burton Barr Library once a week.

HOW TO CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS

Please contact the Senate Committee on Government Institutions and ask them to support this bill.

Senate Committee on Government Institutions

The Honorable Manual V. "Manny" Alvarez, malvarez@azleg.gov, 602-926-5895

The Honorable Frank Antenori, fantenori@azleg.gov, 602-926-5683

The Honorable Meg Burton Cahill, mburtoncahill@azleg.gov, 602-926-4124

The Honorable Jorge Luis Garcia, jgarcia@azleg.gov, 602-926-4171

The Honorable Chuck Gray, cgray@azleg.gov, 602-926-5288

The Honorable Linda Gray, lgray@azleg.gov, 602-926-3376

The Honorable Jack W. Harper – Vice-Chairman, jharper@azleg.gov, 602-926-4178

The Honorable Jay Tibshraeny – Chairman, jtibshraeny@azleg.gov, 602-926-4481

In the Subject line of your email, please state "YES on the HB 2478: County Libraries strike everything amendment." In the Body of your email, mention that the Senate Committee on Government Institutions will hear the bill this Thursday, April 1 and your personal reasons for support.
If you attend the Committee hearing, please sign in at the Senate kiosks!
Your District’s Legislators

If you would like to express your views to your own State Senator or State Representative (if they are not listed above), click on Link to the P.L.A.N. or visit

http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp

Source: P.L.A.N.

P.L.A.N. Update - Governor Calls Special Session #8‏

Governor Calls Eighth Special Session

Today Governor Brewer called her eighth special session to join other states in a lawsuit against the federal government over the recently-approved healthcare legislation. Estimates are that Arizona would need to restore $400 million to the recently approved budget package due to the new healthcare requirements. Special session is scheduled to begin at 1:45 p.m. on Monday, March 29.

State Legislature Buzzing Through Bills

With the legislative budget battles mostly over, the Legislature has been able to focus on the bills. Today is the 75th day of the 2nd Regular Session with 1233 bills introduced and 3 bills signed into law. The legislature likely will take another two weeks to hear bills, and allow a couple more weeks after that for conference committees and floor action. April 24 will mark the 100th day of session. This could be a delightfully short session compared to recent regular legislative sessions.

Bills In Committee Next Week

HB 2479: Foreclosure Deeds; Buyer Identification (Rep. Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R–Safford) requires that foreclosure documentation contain a name and contact information for the person at the lender organization who is responsible for the property. This information will assist the City in contacting the appropriate person to address problems that may be associated with a foreclosed home (e.g. graffiti, weeds, broken windows). This bill was passed by the House 59-0 and has been assigned for a hearing in the Senate Commerce and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday, March 30.

HB 2246: Regulation of Fireworks (Rep. Andy Biggs, R–Gilbert) permits the sale of consumer and display fireworks. This bill is similar to one that was vetoed by Governor Brewer last session. Other than the local preemption from regulating display fireworks, staff is concerned that more people could be physically harmed by these devices and that the state fire marshal, who is tasked to adopt and enforce rules related to the storage of fireworks, is not funded sufficiently to enforce the proposed law. HB 2246 was approved in the House and is scheduled for a hearing in Senate Public Safety and Human Services on Wednesday, 3/31.

HB 2338: Yellow Lights; Duration; Photo Enforcement (Rep. Frank Antenori, R–Tucson) calls for the Arizona Department of Transportation to establish a yellow light duration standard that a community must adopt if it is to operate red light photo radar systems. Federal standards already exist that Phoenix has applied to our traffic signals. Staff is concerned that an unspecified one-size standard will jeopardize the purpose of these photo systems: public safety. HB 2338 was passed in the House by a vote of 36-24 and is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee on Wednesday, 3/31.

Source: P.L.A.N.

Paul Yoder LD15 House of Representatives Candidate Bio and Platform

Paul Yoder Platform and Bio

ISSUES and ANSWERS

Border Security

As an Arizona native, it is obvious to me that the existing Federal plan does not provide maintenance of our Southern Border as it should. Waiting for the Feds to act only leaves our communities vulnerable to drugs, criminal activity, and of course, untenable strains on our services to citizens, including healthcare. Arizona is number one in kidnappings in the country. The majority of those kidnapped are legal U.S. citizens with Hispanic or Latino surnames. They must be protected. Skyrocketing unemployment emphasizes the need to protect legal residents in their search for employment. Having lived abroad for 18 years, I bring a prospective to immigration that is both humane and sensible. Bottom line though: protecting our communities from harmful influences coming in from abroad is going to be up to the state as long as the Federal Government continues to abdicate its responsibility to keep our borders secure.

Jobs

Arizona has enjoyed impressive population growth, but we need employment opportunities to keep pace with that growth. The Legislature should create an environment where capitalism can thrive, resulting in vitally needed jobs. At the same time, business leaders have a duty to the local communities they serve. We should have no patience with corporations that resort to unfair practices in order to undercut their competition. At the same time we want to encourage those businesses that improve the quality of life in our communities, doing everything possible to assure that they remain in Arizona.

Education

In order to attract viable, ethical businesses, we need to be able to offer them a workforce second to none. Arizona students have many excellent educational opportunities and yet our public schools continue to rank at or near the bottom nationally. Usually more math and science classes are proposed to remedy the situation. Teachers are driven to produce students who can pass achievement tests without preparing them for real life situations. In the process educators have become overburdened with red tape that robs them of valuable teaching time. For the last 25 years we have been cutting sports and arts programs from our schools. If we are to improve the quality of education in Arizona, these trends need to be reversed. Certainly it is important for students to become proficient, but the best schools have always been environments where creativity has been allowed to thrive. Only by unleashing their creative spirit can our children grow into the confident, solution driven workforce that will be attractive to employers.

Summary

The burst of the housing bubble, coupled with unacceptable unemployment levels, has emptied our state’s coffers. Until these circumstances change, we are going to have to learn to get by with less. This cloud has a silver lining: our budget shortfalls will force us to craft a leaner, more efficient government, one that will still be responsive to our needs, but not intrusive or cumbersome. Be very careful about looking to government to solve all our problems, there is no substitute for personal responsibility. The right to “pursue happiness” is not a guarantee that it will happen. Future generations of Arizonans are depending on us to avoid the pitfalls that have crippled our national economy and that of states like California and Michigan. I believe I possess the vision to ensure that the American dream remains a reality for those who come after us. It would be a great honor for me if you should choose to support me as a candidate for the Arizona Legislature House of Representatives.

Short biography

Born and raised in Phoenix, I’m a professional musician with a degree in music education from Arizona State University. After teaching for a short while, I went back to college and then moved to Europe to begin what became an 18 year career as a professional opera singer (dirty job, bur somebody’s got to do it). In 1996 my mom had a very serious heart attack, so I returned home and for the last 14 years I’ve continued making music, primarily as a conductor, and in church and concert halls instead of the theater.

Coming from the arts and having lived in abroad, I bring a different perspective to the state political arena. Living and working in other countries gave me firsthand experience with immigration, both its pitfalls and benefits. Many of the proposed solutions to our current economic woes have already been tried in Europe and I’ve had a chance to see how they work and also, how they don’t. These big government socialist answers have generally left European nations hopelessly in debt, stifling enterprise, which has resulted in unemployment levels that leave very little hope for future generations.

My experience as a conductor has shown me that I possess excellent leadership skills, and that I can build consensus. If you think getting Republicans and Democrats to agree is difficult, try getting musicians to agree about practically anything musical. It’s no small feat to get a horn player’s phrasing to match a bassoon’s, to keep a chorus, 70 feet away from you, singing in time with the violins sitting right under your nose. If we are to get past the political stalemates that are stymieing our state government and move forward to re-create the systems that have ceased to work for us, we are going to have to start cooperating with each other again. I’m seeking office because I’m creative and I know I can be a catalyst to move government in the direction that will protect all Arizona citizens, both now and in the future.

Source:
Paul Yoder
Candidate LD15 House of Representatives

Luis Garcia Endorses Ken Clark for Arizona House of Representatives, District 15‏

On Friday, March 19, 2010, Luis Garcia and the Ken Clark for Arizona campaign announced endorsement news in the Democratic Primary for Legislative District 15. This afternoon, Luis Garcia publicly endorsed Ken Clark for Arizona House of Representatives. Please find the link to the post on Garcia's website here: http://www.garciaforarizona.com/news.php?BID=32

The campaign is excited to have Luis' support for the August 24, 2010 Democratic Primary.

Learn more about Ken at http://www.kenclarkforaz.org/

Source:

Kathren Coleman
Campaign Manager
Ken Clark for Arizona
602-456-0489

P.L.A.N. Update - Legislature Clears Budget Hurdle‏

Seventh Special Session Sine Die - Governor Signs Budget Package

The seventh special session of the 49th Legislature, which focused on addressing the state’s $3.4 billion deficit for FY 2010 and FY 2011, came to a close at 2:53 p.m. on March 16. The final version of the budget package includes $1.2 billion in state agency and program cuts and identifies $862 million in additional reductions if the May 18 three-year state sales tax increase fails at the ballot box. While revenue sharing went untouched in the end, the Local Transportation Assistance Fund (LTAF) is permanently zeroed out, resulting in a $12 million impact to the City’s transit program this year and $9 million per year after that. Governor Brewer signed the budget package Thursday morning. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee posted the Updated Budget Proposal with Floor Amendments (3/12/10). On page one of the document, select FY2011 Conditional Enactments (pages 5 and 6) to view the summary of additional cuts should the proposed one-cent state sales tax fail.

Payday Lending

Attempts to extend the Payday Lending industry failed once more this week. Senator Russell Pearce (R – Mesa) reintroduced this item via a “strike-everything” amendment on HB2370 in Tuesday’s Senate Appropriations Committee. After much discussion and debate, the bill failed 5-3. No word on whether another attempt at pursuing this legislation will be made this session.

2010 Census Count Important to Phoenix - Census Forms are in the Mail

Watch for your form

Getting everyone in our community counted is important for the city of Phoenix. Each person counted in the 2010 Census brings more than $400 a year to Phoenix to fund critical programs and services. It helps pay for police, fire, parks, libraries, senior centers, roads, public transit, neighborhood revitalization and more.

Census information is safe and confidential. By law, the U.S. Census Bureau cannot share your answers with others, including welfare agencies, immigration authorities, the Internal Revenue Service, courts or law enforcement. When you receive your census questionnaire, please take ten to complete and return by mail.

Source: P.L.A.N.

P.L.A.N. Update - 7th Special Session‏

On Monday afternoon, the seventh special session of the 49th legislature kicked off, focused on closing the state’s budget deficit. The proposal as introduced contained a $6 million hit to Phoenix’s sales tax revenue sharing, as well as an $8 million impact to the City’s portion of the local transportation assistance fund (LTAF). While the budget bills moved through their respective committees on Tuesday, the process came to a halt the following day.

A major sticking point for many legislative members was the transfer of the state’s juvenile corrections function to the counties. By Thursday, the juvenile corrections item was removed from the budget package and work proceeded to pass a majority of the budget bills. The remaining budget items, which cut $1.1 billion from the state's general fund, are expected to be completed on Monday then sent to the Governor for her signature.

The good news is that the reduction in cities' shared revenue was amended out of the package, so there is no direct impact to Phoenix's general fund. The bad news is the sweep and permanent repeal of LTAF was left in the package, which reduces revenue for our Public Transit Department by $8 million. Many thanks goes out to those PLAN members who contacted their legislators, asking that shared revenues be held harmless. You made a difference!

Source: P.L.A.N.

P.L.A.N. Update - Budget Balancing Acts‏

State Budget Hits Hard

Budget documents began circulating mid-week, detailing the current majority plan to close the State’s $2.7 billion deficit. The proposal would cut or eliminate functions of state government to the tune of $1.1 billion. The remaining gap would be filled with $1 billion in new revenue from the temporary sales tax increase (assuming it is adopted), and defer $450 million in K – 12 and university spending.

In addition, the draft plan requires cities to "contribute" $20 million in sales tax revenue sharing to counties. This measure is meant to partially offset the costs associated with shifting the state’s juvenile corrections responsibility to counties. Phoenix and other cities do not operate juvenile courts, so we're asking why cities should pay.

We expect the Governor to call a seventh special session this coming Monday to adopt this budget plan. If the apparent agreement holds through the weekend, the bills should be released on Monday, with a vote to follow on Tuesday. Our estimate is that Phoenix's share of such a "contribution" would be $6 million. Local Transportation Assistance lottery funds are also being swept in the budget plan. If the full amount is diverted, Phoenix's share of these transit dollars would be another $8 million. This State budget plan will most certainly would result in the Council having to revisit potential cuts to Police, Fire and other vital City services including transit. Please remind your state legislators of the importance of revenue sharing and ask them to vote against this bad idea.

Phoenix City Council Adopts Final Budget Proposal

The city of Phoenix Trial budget was initially presented to the City Council on February 2. Since then, 18 community meetings took place where residents shared their thoughts and ideas on the proposed balanced budget. After a full day of consideration at the Council Policy Session, the Phoenix City Council adopted the final budget package on March 2. If the Legislature is successful in diverting shared revenue and transit funds, the budget will have to be rebalanced.

Source: City of Phoenix