Meeting of the minds: Tucson’s Republican state Sen. Justine Wadsack and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs are at odds over the purpose of an upcoming sit-down, Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer reports. Wadsack says she’ll be explaining to the governor the benefits of Arizona’s school voucher program, which makes taxpayer dollars available to all parents so their kids can attend private school or home school. But Hobbs told Fischer that while she agreed to meet, that’s not how Wadsack pitched the meeting to her.

“Hobbs said Wadsack is mistaken if she thinks that’s how the conversation is going to go,” Fischer writes. “The only thing the two agree on is there will be a sit-down.” (August 29, 2023)

Mixing things up: Republican Sen. Justine Wadsack and other GOP legislators want to change the winter gasoline mix that they say drives up gas prices, the Arizona Republic’s Ray Stern reports. Senate President Warren Petersen says the bill they’ll soon submit would allow for the use of several blends of gas that he says “provide similar clean-air benefits” as the pollution-reducing blend typically used. The plan also includes a provision that would give the state Legislature the power to ask the federal government for a waiver to use different blends. Currently, only the governor can approve the submission of waiver requests. (December 15, 2023)

All three local Republicans, Sen. Justine Wadsack, Rep. Rachel Jones, and Rep. Cory McGarr, co-sponsored SB 1011. It would deny cities like Tucson the right to include anything in their general plans that would cut down on car traffic, such as building bicycle routes. That is scheduled for a hearing next Tuesday in the Senate Transportation, Technology and Missing Children Committee. So it’ll probably pass. (January 11) (Tucson Agenda)

SB 1006, another bill co-sponsored by all three local Republicans, would make the state divest from any company that promoted abortion for minors or referred K-12 students to sexually explicit materials. The bill was assigned to the Finance and Commerce Committee, but no hearing is scheduled yet. (January 11) (Tucson Agenda)

Conflicts of interest: If a company stands to benefit from voters approving a bond, should that company be allowed to contribute money to a campaign to get the bond passed? That’s the question addressed by a bill in the state House and skillfully dissected by KJZZ’s Wayne Schutsky. Right now, companies make those donations all the time. As the debate unfolds, state Rep. Alma Hernandez, a Democat from Tucson, wants to make sure school districts, which often depend on bonds to make ends meet, don’t get caught in the political crossfire. State Rep. Cory McGarr, a Republican from Marana, said it would be “good policy to not allow people to have an obvious conflict of interest.” And shocker of all shockers, the bill wouldn’t address contributions to political action committees. (January 19)

Voting centers could be a thing of the past if state legislators approve a measure introduced by Tucson-area state Rep. Rachel Jones. HCR 2032, a concurrent resolution introduced by ****Jones and co-sponsored by Sen. Justine Wadsack, both Republicans from Legislative District 17, would prohibit county boards of supervisors from establishing voting centers. It is up for debate at a hearing of the Committee on Municipal Oversight and Elections on Wednesday. If passed by the Legislature, it would go directly to voters, so Gov. Katie Hobbs can’t veto it. (January 22) (Tucson Agenda)

Elections for school district governing boards would be partisan, including holding primary elections, if legislators pass a bill introduced by Wadsack. SB 1097 would take effect at the start of 2025. Reps. Jones and Cory McGarr, a fellow Republican from LD 17, co-sponsored the bill. It is up for debate at a hearing of the Committee on Education on Wednesday. (January 22) (Tucson Agenda)

Ashes to ashes, mulch to mulch: Arizona could join seven other states that let residents turn their deceased loved ones into garden mulch, Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer reports. A bill in the state House would legalize “natural organic reduction,” which people can put in a flower bed or use to plant a tree. It’s all part of the “circle of life,” like in “The Lion King” movie, as Tucson-area state Rep. Cory McGarr put it. (January 24)

More political battles: A bill from state Sen. Justine Wadsack, a Tucson-area Republican, cleared a hurdle this week, KJZZ’s Camryn Sanchez reports. Her bill would make elections for school district governing boards partisan and require primary elections. Critics of the bill worried it would turn governing boards into “partisan battlegrounds,” but Wadsack seemed to think that was a good idea.

“’We should have partisan, maybe, partisan judges, maybe we should do partisan everybody, because right now the world is split, I think, and you have people that want to live their lives by one ideology and others that want to live by another, and they get to choose,’ Wadsack said.” (January 26)

State Sen. Justine Wadsack, a Tucson-area Republican who represents Legislative District 17, is going to have a busy week. A half-dozen bills she introduced or co-sponsored are up for hearings.

• Today, SB 1286, gets a hearing in the Senate Committee on Elections. It would prohibit counties from using voting centers. Instead, the bill would require schools to close on election days and open up their gymnasiums as precinct polling places.
• Tomorrow, SB 1147, which moves $250,000 into a fund to compensate landowners who lose livestock to wolf predation, gets a hearing in the Committee on Appropriations. At the same hearing, legislators will consider SB 1191, which would include Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare genetic condition that causes obesity and intellectual disability, in the list of developmental disabilities that get services from the state.
• On Wednesday, SB 1287, which bans government-owned facilities from exposing children to sexually explicit materials or filming sexually explicit acts on site, will be up for debate at a hearing in the Committee on Government. SB 1583 would require schools to post a long list of parental rights. That bills gets a hearing in the Committee on Education.
• On Thursday, SB 1189, which would block cities and counties from prohibiting gun shows, gets a hearing in the Judiciary Committee. (February 5) (Tucson Agenda)

Among other Tucson-area Republican legislators, State Rep. Rachel Jones’ bill, HB 2546, which would exempt vehicles made after 2018 from annual emissions testing, among other exemptions, gets a hearing on Tuesday in the House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy and Water. State Rep. Cory McGarr introduced HCR 2027, which would designate each seat in a House legislative district as seat “A” or “B” and require candidates to run in one or the other. It gets a hearing on Wednesday in the House Committee on Municipal Oversight and Elections. (February 5) (Tucson Agenda)

Voting centers in peril: The state House passed a bill sponsored by LD 17 Republican Rep. Rachel Jones that would eliminate voting centers and require voters to cast their ballots at their local precinct polling place, Arizona Public Media’s Hannah Cree reports. ****Pima County started using voting centers in 2022, joining 11 other Arizona counties. Republicans said HB 2547 would make voting more convenient. Democrats said it would be difficult to find enough poll workers for the 625 precincts that would be required in Pima County. (February 8)

Partyline homebuying: Tucson Republican state Sen. Justine Wadsack wants to require real estate agents to tell buyers which political jurisdictions a house is located in, Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer reports. Real estate agents (including Wadsack herself) already tell buyers which school district the house is in, but they are not allowed to provide the political jurisdictions. Wadsack’s bill would reverse that and make it mandatory. Some lawmakers worried it would lead to “redlining.” Tucson Democratic state Sen. Priya Sundareshan worried about the “politicization of everything,” although she allowed the new measure might help people engage more with the political process.

“If they are a Democrat and want to move into a Democrat area, they should know that they’re moving into a Democrat area,’’ Wadsack said. “It would make them approaching their city council members a little easier.’’ (February 16)