John --

Good morning! Welcome to what will likely be our final stay at home update for the year, as it looks like we will be adjourning our legislative session tomorrow. But more on that in a moment; I hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy during this difficult time.

I recorded our weekly video update this morning – you can watch the video on my Facebook page here.

I am continuing to closely monitor COVID-19 case numbers from the Arizona Department of Health Services. Below are the updated numbers, as of this morning, for the zip codes in our District 18 community, along with the change in case numbers since last Monday:

85044: 46 (+5)

85045: 6-10 (-1)

85048: 55 (+4)

85202: 166 (+17)

85210: 51 (+3)

85224: 189 (+6)

85226: 28 (+2)

85282: 61 (+8)

85283: 91 (+20)

85284: 12 (+0)

Not much change overall, with the largest increase in 85283 in south Tempe. As a reminder, there are a lot more testing opportunities available now, so if you are experiencing any symptoms, or are worried you might be sick, you have multiple options to get tested right here in our community.

DHS is still rolling out their “Testing Blitz” program on Saturday’s, with a location in south Tempe. You can find more information on that and how to sign up here: https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/index.php#novel-coronavirus-testing-blitz

CVS has announced two waves of locations for free drive-thru COVID-19 testing, with four locations in our community:

44^th St and Ray Rd in Ahwatukee

Chandler Blvd and Kyrene Rd in Chandler

Ray Rd and McClintock Rd in Chandler

Chandler Blvd and Dobson Rd in Chandler

For more information, and to sign up, go here: https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/covid-19-testing

We are of course still urging everyone to wear masks when in public and urge extreme caution when you are around other groups of people. And we are continuing to closely monitor the data as it comes in regarding the number of cases, potential hot spots, and PPE supplies coming into the state.

So what’s happening at the legislature? Well, as you may have heard, the House went back into session last week for four days, and formally sent an adjournment notice to the Senate on Thursday. They did several things that the Senate president has said we will NOT do, which is hold committee hearings and long floor debates about non-COVID-19 legislation.

Among the dozens of bills that the House debated and voted on, there was really only one bill that was directly related to COVID-19, and that was a business liability bill that would shield businesses and business owners from potential lawsuits over opening up too soon or patrons getting sick at their place of business. The bill that was approved by the House on a party line vote had a lot of problems with it, and will likely not move forward in the Senate.

For starters, the bill is unconstitutional the way it’s worded, and it pokes the governor in the eye a little bit in its language over executive orders. Even if it were to pass the Senate, I would consider it highly likely that the governor would veto it anyway. There is a separate Senate bill on the business liability issue which is much better, and is being worked on in consultation with the broader business community, unlike the House bill that passed last week. We will definitely be taking up this issue in a special session, which will likely be held in the coming weeks.

One piece of good news that happened in the House last week: two of the mental health bills I introduced this year received a final vote in the House, and both passed by wide margins! I didn’t ask my House colleagues to put the bills forward, so it was a welcome and appreciated surprise when they went up on the vote board last week.

The first is SB 1445, which expands the work we did last year with training for suicide prevention. Our bill last year required that teacher training programs at our state universities and community colleges included evidence based suicide prevention training in their curriculum; the bill this year expands that to training programs for school counselors and school social workers. The final vote was 57-3.

The second bill is SB 1446, which would require all high schools, state universities, and community colleges who already offer student ID cards to include a suicide prevention hotline or text-based number on those ID cards. Many high school districts already do this, but our state universities and community colleges do not. I wrote the bill to be very flexible for schools to administer – the requirement starts in the fall of 2021, and it only applies to newly issued ID cards going forward after that date. The final vote was 56-4.

Those of us in the Senate will be convening tomorrow morning at 11am, where we expect to have a brief calendar before adjourning for the session. We fully expect to return for at least one legislative session, with the first likely starting here in the next couple of weeks.

One special session will focus on direct COVID-19 related legislation, with a business liability bill on deck along with other relief measures like unemployment benefits or additional housing or child care assistance being other potential topics of discussion.

We may also return for a separate special session focused just on our state budget, which may need revisions after we passed a budget for the upcoming fiscal year back in March. We are continuing to monitor our state revenue numbers to see what kinds of measures we may need to take in the next couple of months.

So like I said up top, this will likely be our last legislative update for the year, although I will of course continue to keep everyone updated on how things are progressing on my social media pages.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

A reminder that the state’s one stop shop for relief measures, including information about unemployment benefits, housing assistance, Medicaid, and more, can be found at: https://arizonatogether.org

The Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS) website has a site that is being updated daily with information on the number of cases, including by ZIP code: https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/index.php

The Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES), which covers SNAP benefits, unemployment benefits, and other forms of economic assistance, has a resource page here: https://des.az.gov/services/coronavirus

If you or someone you know needs assistance from a local food bank, you can find a directory of resources here: https://www.azfoodbanks.org/index.php/foodbank/

Our Arizona 211 hotline is back up and running and is a great resource. https://211arizona.org/

That concludes our legislative update for this Memorial Day. My best to you and your families, and as a reminder, if I can ever be helpful with anything, please do not hesitate to contact me.

We are all in this together. Take care, stay safe, and stay healthy.

Sean

http://www.seanbowieforaz.com/

Paid for by Sean Bowie for State Senate. Authorized by Sean Bowie.