PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Today, the Arizona Senate Government Committee passed HB 2518, which “prohibits a public service corporation or public power entity that is regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission from employing or entering into an independent contractor agreement with an individual who served as a commissioner in the preceding two years.”
“I applaud lawmakers for continuing to move this commonsense legislation forward in the process,” said Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “HB 2518 provides protections for ratepayers by ensuring that elected members of the Corporation Commission can’t go from regulating utilities to working for them.”
HB 2518 previously passed the Arizona House of Representatives with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 51-2. It will now be considered by the full Arizona Senate.
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order to preserve and protect the integrity of American elections. In the order, the president announced his intention to enforce the citizenship requirement for federal elections, which follows our state’s model championed by the Arizona Free Enterprise Club.
“President Trump campaigned on a promise to improve the integrity of American elections, and he has followed through on that commitment,” said Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club. “This order from the president is a tremendous start to enforcing our nation’s laws and fostering more confidence in our elections from people on all sides of the political aisle. We look forward to working with the White House and other states to help implement the Arizona proof-of-citizenship model across the country.”
In addition to the proof of citizenship component, the order also sets in motion certain actions to provide other assistance to states verifying eligibility, improve the Election Assistance Commission, prosecute election crimes, improve security of voting systems, comply with federal law setting the national election day, and prevent foreign interference and unlawful use of federal funds.
President Trump’s order states, “Despite pioneering self-government, the United States now fails to enforce basic and necessary election protections employed by modern, developed nations, as well as those still developing… Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic. The right of American citizens to have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution, is vital to determining the rightful winner of an election.”
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Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
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Every time the Republican-controlled legislature considers cutting taxes, the biggest obstacle is the taxpayer-funded lobbyists representing cities, towns, and counties. They come down to the legislature year after year accusing lawmakers of “defunding” local government. And, of course, it is always police, fire, and public safety on the chopping block and never DEI programs, art projects, or other unessential and unnecessary spending projects.
The problem with this narrative is that it is completely false. Cities and towns are flush with cash and have actually received enormous windfalls, not cuts, from the legislature. The result has been hundreds of millions in new revenue for the cities in just the last 6 years. Most of it from two sources—online sales and enhanced state shared revenue.
Online Sales Tax Windfall
In 2019, the legislature passed legislation responding to the Wayfair decision, allowing the state and local governments to tax online sales from sellers outside of this state. At the time, it was sold as a “meager” $85-million-a-year tax increase. But now, five years since the legislation was enshrined into law, taxpayers are doling out over one billion dollars in total collections each year to state and local government.
The most recent full fiscal year shows that cities alone collected $250 million directly from taxing online sales in FY24. They pocketed an additional $70 million in shared revenues from the state’s collections, resulting in a net increase of $320 million in revenue that they did not have five years ago.
Income Tax Windfall
If that wasn’t enough, in 2022 the legislature passed landmark tax cuts benefiting every tax-paying Arizonan, consolidating our previous four bracket income tax rates into one, single bracket of 2.5%. At the time, the cities claimed it would bankrupt them. Why? Because cities and towns receive 15% of state income tax collections, known as Urban Revenue Sharing (URS). So, the legislature increased that to 18% to hold cities “harmless.”
The cities like to claim that the 18% has barely held them harmless, going as far as claiming that they think they still lost a little revenue in the deal. But, five years ago, URS totaled $750 million. Last year? $1.5 billion. In other words, the share of income tax cities receive has doubled in the course of just five years. How many Arizona residents have seen their income double in just five years?
This increase was not anticipated. The Arizona budget five years ago projected that cities and towns would be receiving roughly $900 million by now, not nearly a billion and a half. This means they are reaping a windfall compared to what was anticipated in the amount of $600 million. Not only were they completely held “harmless,” they have far outpaced expected revenue growth.
That’s $320 million from taxing online sales and a $600 million windfall from income tax collections, for a total windfall of $920 million.
Municipal Budgets Are Out of Control
As city revenues from the state have exploded, so has the size of their budgets. If the state had defunded the cities, we would expect to see budget cuts. Yet year after year, municipalities have seen their budgets grow bigger and bigger.
Just take a look at the city of Phoenix. In 2019, Phoenix had a General Fund budget of $1.39 billion. Five years later, their budget has nearly doubled to a whopping $2.13 billion! It’s obvious that no amount of revenue can satiate their appetite to spend, evident by their current attempt to impose another tax increase on their already overtaxed residents to avoid any sort of fiscal sanity.
And yet, they continue the same talking point and continue to send their lobbyists down to the capitol to block commonsense taxpayer protections, all on the taxpayers’ dime.
This year they are opposing Senate President Peterson’s bill (SB1013) that would require cities, towns, and counties to obtain a 2/3 majority before raising taxes and fees, a policy that applies to the legislature, and now to the people, who must get to a 60% vote threshold on the ballot to raise taxes after the passage of Prop 132 in 2022. Though the cities might bank on a veto from Katie Hobbs, President Petersen has also introduced his bill as a referral to the ballot, SCR1008.
The cities should be careful in their opposition. If Hobbs vetoes the bill, the voters will likely support it on the ballot, putting the protection behind the Voter Protection Act, which means they won’t be able to change it in the future without going back to the ballot.
Instead of spreading misinformation about being “defunded,” the cities should tackle their own bloated budgets.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Tonight, voters in the City of Tucson rejected the Safe & Vibrant City ballot measure. This proposition would have increased sales taxes by a half-cent, accumulating approximately $80 million in revenue over each of the next ten years. Scot Mussi, President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, released the following statement:
“Voters from all sides of the political aisle made the correct decision in Tucson today. This tax increase was another failed attempt by Tucson’s radical leaders to take more tax dollars from hard-working men and women to fund an insatiable leftist agenda. We have seen over the years how Tucson officials have embraced globalist environmental, energy, and social justice propaganda and policies to steer their municipality – and even our state – into that camp. Tonight, Tucson voters rejected these efforts, rightly deciding to keep their tax dollars for themselves.”
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
If the Hobbs administration has proven itself to be uniquely skilled at anything over the past two years, it’s incompetence and negligence. But now, Arizona’s governor has taken the next step toward outright fraud.
As a part of her recent budget proposal, Hobbs has asked for a supplemental appropriation to the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) to cover a shortfall in the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). Without the additional funding, the DDD could run out of money by May, affecting many people under a program that provides services to Arizonans with disabilities.
The problem stems from a COVID-era program funded entirely by the federal government that would pay parents who operate as caregivers for their children with disabilities—the Parents as Paid Caregivers program. The program was intended to be temporary, but Hobbs received approval from the federal government in February 2024 to make it permanent.
That approval came with a catch. Beginning on April 1, the State of Arizona would have to cover 32% of the costs, which Hobbs attempted to get funding for in last year’s budget. Her proposal was not approved by the legislature, which she mutually agreed to as part of the budget process. But she continued funding the program anyway—likely believing that she would be able to flip the legislature in November’s election or bully lawmakers into giving her the money. She failed on both counts and now has created a shortfall in the DDD program that has exceeded $100 million!
This wasn’t a mistake or some sort of accounting error. Hobbs knew the Parents as Paid Caregivers program was not authorized or funded by the legislature. Yet she stole millions from our state’s general fund to pay for this COVID-era program. There is no other way to describe it—this is blatant fraud by our chief executive, and it’s another piece in a clear pattern of corruption from her administration.
In June of 2024, an eye-opening report was released uncovering an alleged pay-to-play scheme between Hobbs and an Arizona group home that is still being investigated. According to the report, Sunshine Residential Homes donated approximately $400,000 toward the Arizona Democratic party, Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign, and her inaugural fund. And what did the group home receive in return? A nearly 60 percent rate increase during a time when the Arizona Department of Child Safety cut loose 16 providers!
Speaking of her inaugural fund, Hobbs kicked off her reign as governor with a healthy dose of corruption when she collected $1.5 million in donations to cover an inauguration event that cost less than $210,000. That left her with a bunch of leftover money—much of which she used to try to flip control of the Arizona legislature (another Hobbs failure).
And if all this is not enough to show a clear pattern of fraud and corruption, Hobbs has also been providing sweetheart contracts for family members of her administration. This past November it was discovered that Hobbs approved $700,000 to be spent on a new state logo. Yes. $700,000 on a new state logo…because that’s exactly how the people of Arizona wanted to spend their money after four years of Bidenflation.
But it’s not even the money spent that’s the worst part. The $700,000 contract for this new logo was given to Urias Communications, owned by the brother of the now-former Office of Tourism Director Lisa Urias.
We have seen enough. It’s time to hold Katie Hobbs’ feet to the fire.
While there are several ongoing criminal investigations transpiring against the Hobbs administration by AG Mayes and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, the moment has come for the Arizona legislature to consider all options against the governor for this unprecedented scandal. And with that, impeachment should not be off the table.
Hobbs diverted millions for an unauthorized program that has blown a hole in our state’s budget. And her response is to blame lawmakers and publish social media rants blaming everyone but herself for the theft. This would be like someone getting caught for embezzling funds from a pension fund and then telling people that not only are they not responsible but that the plan administrators need to backfill those losses.
It’s ridiculous—just like the last two years of Katie Hobbs.
Help Protect Freedom in Arizona by Joining Our Grassroots Network
Arizona needs to have a unified voice promoting economic freedom and prosperity, and the Free Enterprise Club is committed to making that happen. But we can’t do it alone. We need YOU!
Join our FREE Grassroots Action List to stay up to date on the latest battles against big government and how YOU can help influence crucial bills at the Arizona State Legislature.
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