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Speak Out: Anti-LGBTQ+ Youth Bills and Abortion Ban in Committee
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Demand Wendy Rogers’ Expulsion for Antisemitism
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HB2507 Places Religious Organizations Above the Law in All Areas of Life
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Oppose Coercion and “Separate But Equal” in Schools
AZ’s House Education Committee will hear two bills creating an atmosphere of coercion and discrimination in schools:
HB2707 unconstitutionally requires teachers to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and two-minutes of “silent reflection” (i.e. prayer time) in classrooms.
HB2314 creates a discriminatory “separate-but-equal” system for gendered school bathrooms and other accommodations. It also opens non-cisgender students up to unwanted attention and embarrassment by forcing them to make written requests to use facilities matching their gender identity.
Bonds of trust between parents, kids, and their teachers are key to educational success. Kids need to feel like they can trust the adults in their lives to have their best interests in mind—not to foster atmospheres of religious indoctrination or discrimination.
Here’s what you can do right now about these bills:
- Use our action alert form to read more and contact committee members
- If you are a Request to Speak user, sign in against these bills before Tuesday morning.
- RSVP for Secular Day at the Capitol where we will rally and lobby with lawmakers against bills like these
TAKE ACTION NOW
Have more time for action?
The parade of anti-democracy bills and other rights violations impacting us all continues. If you’re ready to really dig in, click here for the complete list of bill numbers you can sign in against through Request to Speak or call committee members about this week.
Thank you so much for your commitment and passion.
-The Secular AZ Team
Oppose the Most Sweeping Religious Exemptions Bill EVER
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Bills in Committee Feb 7-8
We’re continuing to watch several dozen bills of interest moving through Legislative committees. Here’s the full list of what’s on our radar next week:
In House Health & Human Services: Monday, 2/7/22:
- HB2086: schools cannot require COVID or Human Papillomavirus vaccines
Committee members:
Kelli Butler (D) – (602) 926-5156 / kbutler@azleg.gov
Joseph Chaplik (R) – (602) 926-3436 / jchaplik@azleg.gov
Alma Hernandez (D) – (602) 926-3136 / ahernandez@azleg.gov
Steve Kaiser (R) – (602) 926-3314 / skaiser@azleg.gov
Joanne Osborne (R) – (602) 926-3181 / josborn@azleg.gov
Beverly Pingerelli (R) – (602) 926-3396 / bpingerelli@azleg.gov
Pam P. Hannley (D) – (602) 926-4848 / ppowershannley@azleg.gov
Amish Shah (D) – (602) 926-3280 / ashah@azleg.gov
Justin Wilmeth (R) – (602) 926-5044 / jwilmeth@azleg.gov
In Senate Government: Monday, 2/7/22:
- SB1058: banning drive-up voting; ballot boxes
- SB1298: mask mandate prohibition
- SB1357: restrictions on voting machines
- SB1358: mandating that ballots must be counted at precincts instead of counties (facilitating actual election fraud)
- SB1359: all election workers must have unique usernames and passwords (so that individuals can be targeted more easily with election fraud accusations)
- SB1360: expanding access to polls granted to “election observers” (facilitating voter intimidation)
- SB1362: requiring same-day tabulation; more poll workers/electors
- SB1380: monthly scrubbing of voter rolls
- SB1404: restrictions on early voting (would particularly impact people with disabilities)
- SB1457: restrictions on voting machines
- SB1474: all elections must be in person
- SB1477: monthly update of felony convictions records (so as to restrict election access)
Committee members:
Sonny Borrelli (R) – (602) 926-5051 / sborelli@azleg.gov
Sally Ann Gonzales (D) – (602) 926-3278 / sgonzales@azleg.gov
Theresa Hatathlie (D) – (602) 926-5160 / thatathlie@azleg.gov
Warren Petersen (R) – (602) 926-4136 / wpetersen@azleg.gov
Martin Quezada (D) – (602) 926-5911 / mquezada@azleg.gov
Wendy Rogers (R) – (602) 926-3042 / wrogers@azleg.gov
Kelly Townsend (R) – (602) 926-4467 / ktownsend@azleg.gov
In Senate Education Tuesday, 2/8/22:
- SB1131, SB1657, & SB1707: expansions to the state’s school voucher program.
- SB1412: lowering standards for who can be hired as a substitute teacher
- SB1519: opening the door for defunding special education
Committee members:
Nancy Barto (R) – (602) 926-5766 / nbarto@azleg.gov
Paul Boyer (R) – (602) 926-4173 / pboyer@azleg.gov
Sally Ann Gonzales (D) – (602) 926-3278 / sgonzales@azleg.gov
Rick Gray (R) – (602) 926-5413 / rgray@azleg.gov
Theresa Hatathlie (D) – (602) 926-5160 / thatathlie@azleg.gov
Christine Marsh (D) – (602) 926-3184 / cmarsh@azleg.gov
Tyler Pace (R) – (602) 926-5760 / tpace@azleg.gov
Thomas Shope (R) – (602) 926-3012 / tshope@azleg.gov
What you can do:
- Contact the committee members listed above before the day of the hearing
- If you are a Request to Speak user, sign in against the above bills. (Note: RTS is moving very slowly, so prepared to be patient.)
We will provide an additional update at the beginning next week for bills being heard Wednesday and beyond.
In Solidarity,
-The Secular AZ Team
Our View From Opening Day at the Legislature 2022
On Monday, Governor Ducey delivered his final State of the State speech, and Secular AZ Board Member Sami Al-Asady and I were able to attend as guests of Representative Andrea Dalessandro. This was not the first SOTS I’ve attended, and it wasn’t much different than speeches given in years past. Continue reading