Project 11 Resources

Why This is Important?

We are currently continuing to be in the midst of a global pandemic . COVID-19 has magnified the existing problems in the access and delivery of both affordable and quality health care in the US.Now, more than 2.1 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID, and over 116,000 are dead. . We recognize that the lack of accessible health care adversely effects communities of color, low income populations ,people without adequate housing , densely populated urban areas and isolated rural areas.

Compared to the rest of the world WE SPEND MORE and GET LESS

Significance in Arizona

Not only did Arizona open up before we saw a decrease in COVID-19 cases. We now see a surge in cases through the state with increasing deaths and hospitalizations without enough hospital beds and ICU beds .We believe we must exert influence on our state and local administration to follow CDC guidelines and recommendations.

Current hot spots June 16 Eloy and Florence {likely related to high numbers in the prison population}

Where does Arizona rank in Healthcare compared to the rest of the US.

Access-42 and significantly worse in rural Arizona. {large swaths of LD 11 especially in Pinal county

HOW does Arizona leadership affect this issue

• Governor Ducey is not responding to CDC recommendations.
• Current LD11 legislators are not recommending any changes to the Ducey responses
• Congressman Tom O'Halloran [D] has not signed on to Medicare for All bills unlike his Democratic colleagues from AZ: Kirkpatrick, Grijalva , Gallego.

What Can We Do

• NOW for current crisis
• Support public proposals that offer immediate and long term solutions
• Follow recommendations by the scientific and medical communities and experts
• Elect candidates both nationally and locally who support aid and assistance to those communities in need
• provide adequate PPE for all health Care Workers
• Plan and provide enough hospital beds and medical equipment both for now and the future
• DO not bend to the demonstrations of right wing ideologues
• NOW to address our general health care issues

We Believe

UNIVERSAL AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE IS MANDATORY and one way to achieve that is through a single payer system such as Medicare for all
Alert our legislators to support initiatives that address both current and preventive and future needs currently Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act, which if passed, would empower Medicare to cover the costs of all treatment for the uninsured and cover all out-of-pocket costs for those with insurance for as long as the pandemic continues including the cost off coronovirus testing and eventual vaccine.

Further Information

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Understanding the Medicare For All Act of 2019
• The Basics of 'Medicare for All'
• Health Care Rankings-Measuring how well states are meeting citizens' health care needs

Our legal system guarantees justice for all, but that system depends on individuals exercising their independent judgment and being held accountable for those acts of discretion.

We must act to ensure that our legal system is not infected by ignorance, political bias, ambition or fear.

There must be transparency in holding those who we entrust with discretion accountable to the public they serve.

Here are two examples.

House Bill 2537

Why This Is Important?

House Bill 2537 passed by the Arizona legislature and signed by Governor Ducey in 2016 expanded the State Supreme Court to seven judges from five.

Significance in Arizona:

Approval of the legislation will cost the state an additional one million dollars and came despite objections from the Chief Justice Scott Bales (now retired), who, in a letter to Ducey, asked the governor to veto the legislation adding that the expansion "is not needed at this time when other court-related needs are underfunded."

• See "Gov Ducey Signs Legislation to Expand Arizona Supreme Court, May 18, 2016, AzCentral.com

How Arizona Leadership Affected This Issue

Governor Ducey strongly supported the bill, despite reported objections from Democrat lawmakers. According to then Democratic Senator Katie Hobbs of Phoenix, "the only reason to do it is so the Governor can stack the Supreme Court with his picks."

This bill was supported by Representatives Mark Finchem and Vince Leach (Leach is currently a member of the Arizona Senate as of 2019).

Further Information

• Roll Call: AZ HB2537

Arizona SB 1445

Why This Is Important?

Arizona SB 1445, introduced in 2015, sought to prohibit Arizona Police Departments from disclosing the name of any police officer involved in an incident which included deadly physical force and resulted in the death or serious injury of an individual for 60 days after the incident, unless the officer is arrested or formally charged for actions related to the incident, the officer gives written consent to disclose his or her name or the criminal investigation of the incident is complete.

Significance In Arizona

The legislation was supported by the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association and the Arizona Police Association. An investigative study by the Arizona Republic in 2018 shows that Arizona had the fourth highest number of fatal police shootings per capita in the nation. In 2018 alone, police officers in Phoenix fired at more people than any other law enforcement officers in any other city in the United States, with the number of shootings doubling in Phoenix form 2017 to 2018. AZ SB1445 would have prevented the public from learning the names of these officers involved in those shootings for 60 days.

How Arizona Leadership Affects This Issue

The legislation was vetoed by Governor Ducey but Arizona House of Representatives Republican members Mark Finchem and Vince Leach voted in support of the legislation.

Further Information

• Every 5 days, an Arizona officer shoots someone, a Republic analysis finds - AZ Central - Jan. 30, 2020

Why is this important?

• The Postal service is OBLIGATED to serve all Americans regardless of where they live!
• The drive to defund our Postal service and then sell it off as a vehicle for private gain instead of public good would result in a decline of services or canceling of services to Rural communities, who will suffer the most.

Significance in Our Country

"America's founders recognized that commerce requires a common infrastructure.

Did you know that when you ship a package through Federal Express, the U.S. Postal Service often carries it the last mile?

In 2014, the Postal Service delivered 1.4 billion packages for FedEx and UPS. In fact, it delivers the last mile for almost a third of FedEx packages. The 618,000 Postal Service workers also delivered nearly 66 billion pieces of first-class mail — that's more than 100,000 pieces per carrier.

The Postal Service can reach all 150 million American households because it's a public system that we've been investing in for over 200 years. Our Constitution tasked the federal government with creating a national postal system and told the Postmaster General to report to the president.

But in 1971, Congress made the service into an "independent agency" managed by a board of governors. And since then, it's been under attack by politicians who never met a public program they liked.

Yes, the rise of UPS, FedEx, and the Internet has created new challenges for your local post office. But the purported "fiscal crisis" is a manufactured one.

In 2006, Congress required the Postal Service — known as USPS for short — to "pre-fund" 75 years of its retirees' health benefits. This added $5.7 billion to its costs in 2014.

No other private company or federal agency has to pre-fund retirement health care benefits. If they did, many corporations would run huge deficits or tumble into bankruptcy. Without these retiree health payments, USPS would actually turn a profit.

Using the deficit created by this requirement as an excuse, the USPS board of governors is closing distribution centers, cutting worker hours, eliminating delivery routes, and slashing jobs. Over five years, USPS cut 94,000 positions.

The job loss alone is a travesty, but a bigger principle is at stake.

Our nation's founders understood that a universal, affordable, and yes, public postal system helps knit us together as a nation. They recognized that commerce requires a common infrastructure and public institutions that belong to and benefit the entire country.

Instead of shrinking the Postal Service, we should build on it. That means, first of all, appreciating that the USPS can be much more than a delivery service.

In many small towns, the local post office continues to be a community hub, a place to meet neighbors and get news. And postal carriers don't just deliver letters — they often keep an eye on the elderly and homebound, and alert first responders if things look amiss.

They could do even more. The Postal Service's fleet of vehicles — the largest in the country — could be equipped to detect air pollutants and report potholes, water leaks, and other infrastructure repair needs.

Why stop there?

The USPS could raise tens of billions of dollars each year by reinstating post office savings accounts and banking services, which it efficiently provided for 55 years in the first half of the 20th century.

Customers received 2-percent interest on their savings accounts, and the post office loaned their money to community banks, which then made loans to local businesses. This virtuous circle benefited the entire community. At its peak, 4 million Americans took advantage of these services, saving $36 billion in 2014 dollars.

Today, 34 million American families live in places without traditional banking services. High-interest payday lenders and check-cashing services charge low-wage working families in those communities an average of over $2,400 a year. Experts estimate that low-cost banking services could save American workers a trillion dollars a year.

Instead of selling off the assets we built together over two centuries, let's invest in our Postal Service — a public system that has served our nation since its birth.

Katherine McFate is the President and CEO of the Center for Effective Government in Washington.

• Another article in The Atlantic: Save the Postal Service

Why This Is Important

• People who feel very strongly about abortion may be single issue voters : they "are" either "pro-choice" (woman's right to choose) or "pro-life" (anti-abortion) and vote for whomever agrees with them. Period.
• There are also a large number of people who are not fully comfortable with absolute positions on either side and those people are persuadable voters...folks who, if they have the issue broken down clearly, will vote for someone who can speak reasonably and coherently about what they think and why.

Significance For Arizona

• The Abortion Debate is about who gets to make the laws that everyone is supposed to follow re: actual availability of abortion services and to whom these services will be available.
• Because the Abortion Debate is about lawmaking, it is important that every eligible person VOTE for lawmakers (elected officials) at BOTH the STATE and FEDERAL level, who will work to make laws (or not make laws) that reflect your position.
• In AZ, there are several religiously-oriented groups that are extremely anti-abortion and anti-choice and also have great influence over policy development by our current elected state officials. The most prominent of these organizations is Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), led by Cathi Herrod*.

Where Arizona Leadership Stands

FEDERAL:

• Senatorial candidate Mark Kelly and Senator Martha McSally have diametrically opposing positions on abortion. Mark Kelly "supports every woman's right to choose and supports women's reproductive rights, health and gender equity." (ontheissues.org)
• Martha McSally's voting record and statements show that she wants to de-fund Planned Parenthood, opposes public funding of abortions, opposes abortion rights" and opposes Obamacare funding going towards abortions. (ontheissues.org)

STATE LEGISLATURE:

• Vince Leach:
  • Co-Sponsor: "Born Alive Reporting" bill. (SB 1367)
  • Primary Sponsor:
    • bill Restricting Medication Abortions (SB 1324)
    • bill Prohibiting Fetal Tissue Research (SB 1474)
• Mark Finchem (designated "Worst Arizona Legislator" by blog for AZ):
  • Received a rating of 100% from Cathi Herrod's CAP (see above) 2019
  • Received a rating of 0% from NARAL, 2016
  • Received a rating of 20% from Planned Parenthood of AZ 2016

Further Supporting Information

How Church and State are Different in the United States of America

Sectarian (Church) as compared with Secular (State)

• Cathi Herrod has exaggerated the risks of abortion Cathi Herrod, AZ Capital Times

"Cathi Herrod is president of Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), a nonprofit advocacy organization committed to promoting and defending the foundational values of life, marriage and family, and religious freedom. A total of one hundred seventy-one (171) CAP-supported bills have been passed into law since CAP made its first appearance at the state Capitol in 1995."

"ERA proponents ought to make their case to the public based on fact: The ERA is not necessary for women's equality or reaching one's "full human potential," but it could set the stage for virtually unrestricted, taxpayer funded abortion."

Arizona law requires that only medical doctors can perform abortions as of 2019. Women have a mandated 24 hour waiting period after seeking an abortion and must undergo in person state mandated counseling.

Why this is important?

We are already experiencing a global climate crisis caused by human activity. We have to act now to mitigate ongoing disasters like extreme weather; halt environmentally disastrous practices like fracking and forest-clearing; and protect the earth's inhabitants and critical habitats.

Significance in Arizona

Water Management

• With the Arizona population booming and our summers getting longer and hotter due to global warming, water management is a crucial issue.
• Unfortunately, the recently adopted Drought Contingency Plan authorized and funded additional groundwater pumping rather than adopting adequate long-term protection, and some requirements for water supply planning for new developments are being weakened.
  • As a result, subsidence — where land sinks due to over-pumping of groundwater — is becoming an increasingly common occurrence.

Public Lands

• 57% percent of land in Arizona is public land, the control of which is frequently the target of efforts to privatize the land or associated revenues.
• Current federal policies are focused on opening more lands to logging, drilling, and mining, including proposed copper mines on Native-held lands and a proposed uranium mine adjacent to the Grand Canyon.
  Our wildlife is also being compromised by border wall construction, disrupting habitats and migration corridors and weakening the enforcement of environmental laws including the Endangered Species Act.

Renewable energy

• Despite having some of the highest solar potential in the US, Arizona remains at a fraction of this capacity.
• Recent changes to net metering and other regulations related to solar have hindered adoption of the technology by residential owners.

How Arizona leadership affects this issue

• Mark Finchem, Vince Leach, and Bret Roberts have all received an F rating from the Serra Club due to their lack of support for environmental protections.
• Finchem has repeatedly moved to weaken protections for public lands, and brushed off wildlife concerns in his support for a bill prohibiting localities from requiring a permit for border wall construction on private lands.
• Leach sponsored a bill to prohibit measures to incentivize electric vehicles, and opposed Bisbee's 2018 ban of plastic shopping bags.

Further Information

• 2020 proposal to prohibit sale of private lands to the federal government without approval from the Arizona legislature and governor
• Bill prohibiting localities from requiring a permit for border wall construction on private lands
• Leach's opposition to Bisbee's plastic bag ban
• TAGG Forum - A Discussion on Climate Change – February 2018

Why is This Important?

Tax cuts, tax exemptions, tax credits…many of these tax 'Give-Aways' benefit a small group of people to the detriment of our AZ General Fund and to the General Public. Less services are provided. Less investment in our state infrastructure and more debt is a result of unfair tax policy.
To make-up for the short-fall sales taxes are raised which puts the burden on those who can least afford it.

Significance in Arizona

Tax Give-Aways total a loss of over $13 Billion dollars to the Arizona budget every year. Thanks to corporate tax cuts passed by the Tea Party beginning in 2011, Arizona's corporations got to keep $1 billion in 2017. These tax cuts continue even though we cannot afford them. Almost never has a tax cut been removed from the books!

Representative Tim Dunn, a Yuma farmer decided that he didn't want to pay for fertilizer so, he worked to get a bill passed and signed by the Governor…equaling a $20 million a year loss in tax revenue affecting all Arizonans.

Tax exemptions offered by our leaders just over the last six years have drained hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the state treasury, with more to come. And you wonder why Arizona's teachers are the lowest paid in the nation?

How does Arizona Leadership affect this issue

Though the benefit of not paying taxes on fertilizer has not affected the cost of food, Mark Finchem, LD11 current elected House Rep, voted to pass this Tax Give-Away stating "This is a direct connection to the afford-ability of food."

Further Information

• "Stop Thief!" Let's Restore Fair Taxes
• What is the cost? 18 Tax Giveaways pass the AZ House Ways & Means committee

Why is this important?

A good education is the key to unlocking a world of opportunity. During the forming of our country; every State that wanted to join the United States after the original Colonies, was required to provide free public education. This mandate guarantees that our democracy remains viable. If we want to live in a society that respects the rights of all; If we subscribe to the democratic idea that all of us are afforded an equal opportunity and we desire to live peacefully in a free society, then we also understand that this cannot be done without a high-quality public education system.

Significance in Arizona

AZ Education Funding has been cut more than any other U.S. State. We rank near or at the bottom in education funding and have remained there for too many years!

Over 2000 teacher positions stand vacant resulting in over 60,000 students without a permanent certified teacher and classroom overcrowding. Another 3400 classrooms are taught by non-certified, untrained "teachers"

AZ is "ground zero" for school privatization. Funding for public schools has dramatically declined while investment in for-profit ed increases exponentially.

How does Arizona Leadership affect this issue

The AZ Legislature has passed laws since 1995 to defund public schools. From Charter Schools to Student Tuition tax Credits. From Vouchers to Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. Local & national reporting show how AZ legislators have lined their pockets with our tax dollars, personally benefiting from passing these laws & undermining our Public Education system. It is criminal.

The AZ legislature, every year, passes Tax breaks & Tax Give-aways,
thereby depleting funding sources to manage our state
and what funding do they cut first?

Our Public Education! Shame on them!

We must elect AZ State Legislators that believe in & support Public Education.

Further Information

• Save Our Schools Arizona
• Invest in Ed
• SOS Video

This one is stunning
even by "Wild West," Arizona (lack-of) standards
for its blatant self-dealing:

The Child Separation Fiasco: How Did We Get Here?

Why this is important?

The Bill of Rights guarantees the same rights and liberties to everyone. To limit the rights of any person on the basis of race or ethnicity is inhumane and unacceptable.

Significance in Arizona

• Arizona has the 5th-highest rate of incarceration in the US, disproportionately affecting communities of color.
• Families are still being torn apart at the Arizona-Mexico border and being subjected to horrendous abuse and neglect and indefinite detention
• Because of overcrowding and severely limited — or completely absent — medical care, COVID-19 cases are spreading rampantly through both Arizona prisons and ICE detention centers.

How Arizona leadership affects this issue

• Arizona governor Doug Ducey has stated that he has no desire to remove the numerous Confederate monuments around the state, including the monument located in front of the Arizona State Capitol.
• Bret Roberts sponsored HB 2598, a bill that would require Arizona agencies and local jurisdictions to comply with immigration detainers, keeping detained individuals in custody "until federal agents can pick them up for deportation proceedings"
• Mark Finchem is a member of the Oath Keepers, a racist, anti-government militia, and dismissed the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA "a 'Deep State' operation facilitated by the media and Democrats."
• Finchem's proposed "classroom code of ethics" would prohibit public and charter teachers from discussing "controversial" issues, including "blaming one racial group of students for the "suffering and inequities" experienced by another racial group"

Further Information

• Confederate monuments in AZ
• Roberts's anti-sanctuary city bill
• Finchem: from Charlottesville to Oath Keepers
• Finchem's Classrom "Code of ethics"

Martin Luther King Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

• AZ Elected Government

AZ Corporation Commission Forum – Talking Points – January 2108

AZ Corporation Commission Forum January 2018

Why this is important?

The Bill of Rights guarantees the same rights and liberties to everyone. To limit the rights of any person on the basis of gender identity, expression, or orientation is inhumane and unacceptable.

Significance in Arizona

• Unfortunately, LGBTQIA Arizonans are still facing shameful attacks from shameless Republican legislators.
• In March, the AZ House of Representatives voted along party lines to advance HB2706, which aims to prevent transgender female students' participation in sports according to their gender identity.
• In September, the state Supreme Court ruled against a Phoenix anti-discrimination ordinance, thus allowing businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples under the guide of "free speech".

How Arizona leadership affects this issue

• Stonewall Democrats of Arizona give Vince Leach, Mark Finchem and Bret Roberts a grade of 0% when it comes to Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity.
• HB 2706, the bill preventing transgender female students from involvement in girls' team sports, is backed (and was even introduced) by Mark Finchem
• Finchem's proposed "classroom code of ethics" would prohibit public and charter teachers from discussing, "controversial" issues, presumably including LGBTQIA rights

Further Information

• ACLU on AZ House Bill 2706
• AZ Supreme court's ruling supporting discrimination against same-sex couples
• Stonewall Democrats of Arizona: Finchem, Leach, Roberts
• Human Rights Campaign (AZ issues)
• Finchem's Classrom "Code of ethics"