John --



Welcome back to our weekly updates from the capitol! Every Tuesday morning I will provide an update on what I’m seeing and hearing during our legislative session.



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As you know, I was re-elected last November, and I was sworn in for my third term last week. This was my fifth opening day, and this one certainly felt different. Normally, we have family members, friends, colleagues, and other members of our community there to see us begin the session, especially for odd-numbered years where we are officially sworn in for our two-year term. That obviously didn’t happen this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic; security around the capitol was very tight, and we were only allowed two approved guests per senator.



I still enjoyed it, however, and relished the opportunity to be sworn in for another term representing the community that I grew up in. It is a humbling honor and privilege, and I try to remind myself daily about the responsibility I carry with me going forward.







As is usual for Opening Day, not much happened legislatively, but things are moving quickly, as I have dozens of bills I am working on as we dive into Week 2 of session (more on those bills a little later).



Which committees do I serve on for 2021-2022? The same committees I have served on the last two years: Senate Appropriations, Senate Finance, and Senate Commerce. I am once again the ranking member of the Senate Finance committee, which means I am the highest ranking Democrat and maintain a good working relationship with the chairman and vice chairman of the committee and advocate for our caucus with the both of them.



Senate Finance and Senate Commerce both met last week, but Appropriations did not. Committee hearings look different this year too, because of the pandemic; only up to five members are allowed in the hearing room at once, with the rest of the members in their offices. In-person committee testimony is also largely not allowed, meaning folks have to testify over Zoom and having to request permission at least 24 hours ahead of time. It’s a learning curve, and we are all trying to adjust as we get set to conduct our regular legislative business.



We still have some time before we will get to floor debate and floor votes on legislation. Only a few committees met last week, and because of the holiday yesterday, the Rules committee is not meeting this week, meaning that the soonest a bill could get to the floor for a vote would be late next week (a bill has to clear the Rules committee before it can be considered before the entire Senate).



Bills! I have spent the last several weeks putting the final touches on nearly two dozen bills, which is a bit higher than the number I normally introduce every year. Some of these bills are ones I have run before, and others are brand new. Many of them have to do with issues I’ve fought for for years, including additional mental health resources for our K-12 students, investment in our P-20 education system, greater protections for our LGBTQ community, and criminal justice reform.



We still have quite a few bills that are still being worked on and that are *almost* ready for prime time, but here are the bills that I have formally dropped, and that are available for viewing online:



SB 1004 - state finance review; task force - this is a bill I run every year that would create a task force set up to look at state revenues, tax credits and expenditures, and see how Arizona compares to other states, and then make recommendations on policy changes moving forward.



SB 1040 - tax credit; earned income - this is a new bill that would create a state version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). 29 states have their own state version of the EITC, and it would provide a tax credit to working families on the lower end of the income scale.



SB 1097 - pupils; excused absences; mental health - this is a bill that came VERY close to passing last year. It passed the Senate unanimously and only needed a final floor vote in the House. For K-12 students, it would clarify that an absence due to mental or behavioral health would count as an excused absence, just like an absence for physical illness would. I am happy to report that this bill is being heard in the Senate Education committee later this afternoon at 2pm.



SB 1098 - administrative costs; limit; STOs - this is a bill I have run before, and it would cap administrative expenses for Student Tuition Organization (STO’s) at five percent, a reduction from the current ten percent cap.



SB 1099 - teachers academy; counselors; social workers - another good bill that I have run in the past, this one would expand the current Arizona Teachers Academy from just including teachers to also including school counselors and school social workers. This would allow students studying to be a school counselor or social worker to benefit from reduced tuition at our three state universities.



SB 1100 - school counselors; grants - this bill would require that our state fund more school counselors to reduce our ratio of teachers to school counselors. It would appropriate tens of millions of dollars each year over the next five years for schools to hire more counselors.



SB 1173 - family leave - this bill is one I ran for the first time last year that would require employers to offer paid family leave for their employees of twelve weeks per employee after the birth of a child.



SB 1174 - appropriation; STEM internships - this bill would appropriate $2 million from our state general fund to fund STEM internships for young people throughout the state.



I still have about a dozen or so bills that will drop later this week or early next week, including several having to do with greater mental health support. Stay tuned to this space for more details when I have them!



Finally, I have received a lot of questions through email and text messages over the last week about security at the capitol, and whether we feel safe as we try to do our work. Since Opening Day, as I mentioned above, there has been heightened security at the entire capitol complex, with only authorized visitors allowed in.



In fact, one day last week, I arrived at the capitol around 7am (as I normally do), and I arrived too early because the security policing our members parking lot didn’t start until 7:30am. There is fencing around our parking lot, which meant I couldn’t enter for another half hour!



We expect additional security measures to be in place both today and tomorrow, which is Inauguration Day in Washington, DC for President-elect Biden. I have two committee hearings today, and two more tomorrow, so I will be at the capitol, working either from my office or the committee rooms. I trust our security professionals at the capitol to help keep us safe.



I will continue to be careful, and I appreciate the words of support and concern.



I hope you enjoyed this week’s update - stay tuned every Tuesday morning for more updates on our work at the state capitol.



Thank you,



Sean





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