by admin | Sep 21, 2023 | News and Updates, Tax
If someone in the private sector illegally took money that didn’t belong to them and then refused to return it, what do you think would happen? They could be heavily punished with fines. They could face sanctions. They could even end up in jail, depending on the offense.
But for about a year and a half, Pinal County has been allowed to drag its feet in refunding $80 million that it illegally collected from taxpayers. It’s just another example of government officials who think they are above the law.
This all started back in 2016 when Pinal County officials proposed a $640 million transit tax hike to voters in order to fund a wide array of transportation projects throughout the region. But after unveiling the plan, the county faced strong opposition from retailers, home builders, auto dealers, and multiple taxpayer watchdog groups.
This should’ve been enough for county officials to recognize that the community didn’t support their proposal. But they were too committed to their scheme. So, what did they do? They developed a new plan to buy off their political opponents by adding a special carve-out for purchases that exceeded $10,000 from paying the new tax. That’s a bold strategy, isn’t it? It’s also illegal.
Because the new tax would only apply to retail sales below $10,000, it meant that the day-to-day purchases of lower-income citizens would be more heavily taxed than more expensive items. But capping the tax in such a way isn’t authorized by Arizona statute. That’s why the Goldwater Institute—supported by the Club every step of the way—challenged the Pinal County transportation tax in court. And in March 2022, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled against the tax in a big win for taxpayers.
That should’ve been the end of it. Pinal County officials should’ve immediately begun working on a plan to refund the money to taxpayers. And yet, nothing but crickets for the past 18 months. The reality is that the Arizona Department of Revenue and Pinal County haven’t taken any steps to even allow people to apply for refunds. And at the end of last month, ADOR announced that it was pausing any plans to send the money out because it did not receive clarity from Pinal County on how to do so.
This is outrageous! And more than likely, it’s completely by design. Pinal County officials think that if they delay long enough, they will be able to keep the $80 million. After all, they had a bill introduced during the last legislative session that would have allowed them to do just that. That bill went nowhere, just like the illegally collected taxpayer money the county has been holding in an interest-bearing escrow account.
Now, the Goldwater Institute has gone back to court to force the refunds to occur. And once again, the Club will support this effort by whatever means are necessary. Pinal County officials had no right to take this money. And they certainly have no right to keep it. Taxpayers are legally entitled to these refunds. And if Pinal County refuses to do the right thing, it’s time for the courts to step in and force them to.
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by admin | Sep 14, 2023 | Elections, News and Updates
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes appears to be in a tug-of-war with Governor Katie Hobbs to determine who is worse at their job. It’s been well-documented that since she took office, Hobbs has been off to a rough start with high-profile staff exits, breaking the veto record after killing the bipartisan “Tamale Bill,” and alienating many Democrats by signing the Republican budget. But over the past eight months, Fontes has been working just as hard in the battle to see who’s more incompetent. Not only has he failed to perform the necessary voter list maintenance—leaving 14 Arizona counties in violation of Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act—but he rushed through a version of the Elections Procedures Manual (EPM) that is filled with unlawful provisions.
Now, Secretary of State Fontes has been dealt another major blow after a superior court judge ruled that he and his predecessor (now-Governor Katie Hobbs) enforced an EPM requirement that contained an unlawful voter signature verification process.
Currently in Arizona, early ballot voters are only required to prove their identity by signing the exterior of the envelope that contains their ballot. That process is already problematic enough, which is why the Free Enterprise Club has been a strong advocate for universal voter ID in elections. But Hobbs’ EPM, which has been upheld by Fontes, essentially rewrote state law to make invalid voting easier.
Under Arizona statute, an envelope signature is supposed to match the signature on the voter’s registration record. If it doesn’t, the country recorder must contact the voter, advise the voter of the inconsistent signature, and allow the voter to correct or the county to confirm the inconsistent signature. But Hobbs’ EPM instructs county recorders to validate early ballot affidavits if they determine the signature matches any election-related document available to them. This not only rewrites state law regarding signature verification for mail-in ballots, but it creates a process that invites dubious methods and opportunities for abuse during the signature review process.
That’s why the Free Enterprise Club filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes after he failed to reject Hobbs’ EPM earlier this year. Fontes and a left-wing group called Mi Familia Vota (represented by Hillary Clinton Lawyer Marc Elias) responded by filing a motion to dismiss, claiming to the court that the term “registration record” was ambiguous and up for interpretation. Essentially, they were arguing that he could decide what constituted a valid signature record for the purpose of verifying a ballot signature. On top of that, Fontes petitioned the court to interpret the law to mean that other documents could be included in the definition of “registration record.”
But Judge John Napper saw through those arguments and rejected Fontes’ motion to dismiss earlier this month. He told Fontes that the statute is clear and unambiguous, and he stated that only a voter’s signature used to register to vote is valid.
While the case isn’t over yet (we anticipate that Fontes will appeal), this is a great development as we move forward. The judge ruled in our favor on all questions of law. And we will keep fighting this case all the way to the Supreme Court to ensure a final victory for the integrity of our elections.
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.
by admin | Sep 7, 2023 | Misc, News and Updates
For local governments—and councils of governments—in Arizona, it appears that creating a climate action plan has become all the rage. Maybe that’s because it pays well.
The latest group to bow down at the altar of the Biden administration’s climate change agenda is the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG). Back in August, MAG received a $1 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program to serve as the lead planning organization for the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler metro area. The grant requires MAG to develop a priority climate action plan by next March, a comprehensive climate action plan by 2025, and a status report in 2027 after the four-year grant period expires.
But this $1 million grant isn’t the only way MAG stands to benefit.
The development of a priority climate action plan is simply a prerequisite for phase two of the EPA’s grant program, which concerns implementation grants for greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies, programs, and projects. And that could lead to MAG overseeing up to $4.6 billion in federal funding. Now, we see the true motivation.
All of this builds off what governments in Tucson, Tempe, and Phoenix have already passed in their respective cities. Earlier this year, the city of Tucson finalized its climate action plan to the tune of $326 million. And it’s ripe with Green New Deal mandates that are aimed at controlling citizens’ lives, forcing them out of their cars, and destroying the community.
Then, there’s the Tempe City Council which claims to have created a road map to address the immediate threat of “extreme heat.” As part of its plan, the city will be implementing green codes and standards that it believes will create a more walkable and cooler Tempe. Maybe someone should tell the Tempe City Council that we live in a desert and the so-called “extreme heat” they think they can control has always been a normal part of Arizona summers.
Of course, we can’t forget about Phoenix, where Rep. Ruben Gallego has also jumped on the “extreme heat” bandwagon by lobbying for more federal dollars to counter it. And Mayor Kate Gallego has urged the Biden administration to declare Arizona’s heat a federal emergency to, you guessed it, grab more federal funding. The City of Phoenix passed its climate action plan in 2021 with a goal to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Keep in mind that this is the same Phoenix that implemented “cool” pavement that is making people hotter and wants to eliminate parking spaces in an effort to become a 15-minute city. And on top of that, its current mayor is helping to lead a globalist effort to ban meat, dairy, and private cars by 2030.
This is the agenda MAG has chosen to join. Now, with this grant, it will be actively working with the rest of the cities in Maricopa County to adopt climate action plans just like these. And with that, MAG has made its true motivations clear. It is nothing more than a puppet for the Biden administration and the Left.
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.
by admin | Aug 31, 2023 | Elections, News and Updates
The federal government and state governments across the country should be doing everything they can to ensure election integrity going forward. Over the past few years, the Arizona legislature has taken this to heart. But the Left has been fighting against every legitimate election reform that comes from conservatives. Not only are they filing lawsuits in court, but they’ve been deploying a new tactic that threatens the First Amendment.
Lawsuits Against Election Integrity Bills
In 2021, the Arizona legislature passed, and then-Governor Ducey signed into law SB 1485—a law designed to clean up Arizona’s early voter list. Then in 2022, state lawmakers followed that up with HB 2243 (to ensure regular voter list maintenance) and HB 2492 (to ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections).
These are commonsense laws that everyone should be able to get behind, but the Left gave up commonsense years ago. So, multiple groups including the Biden administration, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and a consortium of liberal organizations filed two separate lawsuits against these bills—one over SB 1485 and the other over HB 2243 and HB 2492. Both cases are currently in district court, and the good news is that no injunctions have been issued. That means all these laws remain in effect. But the Left isn’t satisfied with just filing lawsuits. Instead, they have deployed a new strategy to target conservative groups.
A Fishing Expedition to Harass the Club and Other Conservative Organizations
While the Free Enterprise Club is not a party to either lawsuit, we have now been served with two subpoenas (here and here) demanding that we hand over all documents, communications, legislative correspondence, and lobbying strategy. On top of that, they want information related to any election activity and expenditure information from the last six years. And they didn’t just stop with a subpoena to the Club. They also issued a subpoena to Club Vice President Aimee Yentes. It’s outrageous, but not completely surprising—the Left has been deploying this lawfare tactic around the country.
The last couple of years, liberal groups and the U.S. Department of Justice have started serving dragnet nonparty subpoenas on conservative organizations to see what private information, if any, they might be able to pry loose. In one circumstance, they went after a group in Alabama called Eagle Forum, a small nonprofit with only one full-time employee and one part-time employee. So why is the Left going after Eagle Forum? Because the group dared to exercise their constitutional rights to stop gender altering “medical treatment” to minors.
These attacks from the Left on conservative organizations and the First Amendment are out of control. That’s why the Club is fighting back. With the help of the Goldwater Institute, we have filed a motion to quash the first subpoena and will be doing the same with the others. The Left cannot be allowed to bully groups into surrendering personal information or strategy documents. And they certainly should not be allowed to attempt to trick a judge into enforcing their ridiculous subpoenas against private groups that are not even a party to the litigation. It’s a dangerous abuse of power, and if the Left is allowed to get away with it, it’s a direct threat to the future of the First Amendment.
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.
by admin | Aug 24, 2023 | Elections, News and Updates
The people of Arizona deserve elections that are both accessible and secure—where it is easy to vote and hard to cheat. It is the duty of the legislature to pass bills that ensure this, the Governor to sign those bills into law, and the Attorney General to enforce those laws.
But the Secretary of State’s role is different. This elected official is supposed to provide an Elections Procedures Manual (EPM) that provides impartial direction to county recorders to ensure uniform and correct implementation of election law. But just like his predecessor in this role before him (now-Governor Katie Hobbs), our current Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has filled his EPM with unlawful provisions. (Maybe Adrian Fontes just really likes the possibility of being sued.)
Fontes’ EPM Is in Direct Conflict with HB 2492
Only U.S. citizens should be voting in our elections. That’s why the Arizona legislature passed, and then-Governor Ducey signed into law, HB 2492 in 2022. This law takes Arizona back to the practice of rejecting state voter registration applications that do not include proof of citizenship. It requires counties to check multiple databases for evidence of citizenship when an individual submits a federal application without proof. And it requires counties to reject those federal applications if they find evidence that the individual is, in fact, not a U.S. citizen. Additionally, it makes proof of citizenship a requirement to vote early by mail in any election and to vote in Presidential elections.
All of this is intended to safeguard our state’s voter rolls, and as Secretary of State, Adrian Fontes should be producing an EPM that is consistent with this law. But Chapter 1 of his EPM draft is riddled with provisions that are in direct conflict with the requirements enshrined by this duly enacted bill. And that’s not the only problem.
The EPM Draft Conflicts with New Voter Maintenance Laws
In 2022, the Arizona legislature also enacted several new requirements—like HB 2243—to ensure regular voter list maintenance is completed by counties in a uniform, nondiscriminatory manner so that only qualified voters are actively registered to vote. But once again, Fontes’ EPM contains provisions that conflict with the requirements under these new laws.
For example, in one footnote in the drafted EPM, Fontes aims to prohibit counties from using the SAVE database for any list maintenance purpose. But this conflicts with A.R.S § 16-165(I) which requires the county recorder to compare those who are registered to vote who have not provided satisfactory evidence of citizenship with the SAVE database.
Then, there’s the issue of the Active Early Voter List. In 2021, lawmakers passed, and then-Governor Ducey signed into law, SB 1485. This law requires county recorders to remove any voters registered on the Active Early Voter List who have not cast a ballot during two consecutive election cycles and have not responded to notification from the recorder that they wish to continue to participate. So, how does the EPM handle this? It simply ignores it, which as Senate President Warren Petersen pointed out perpetuates the issue of ballots being sent to homes of voters who may have moved or don’t want to participate in the process any more—therefore allowing an increased opportunity for ballots to get into the hands of unintended individuals.
Other Issues in the EPM
If those issues aren’t enough, Fontes isn’t done yet. His draft EPM doesn’t mention any provisions or procedures related to SB 1362, which was passed and signed into law in 2022 and establishes a framework for tabulating early ballots that are dropped off on election day. It directly conflicts with A.R.S § 16-127 which established that individuals who have not provided satisfactory evidence of citizenship are not eligible to vote in Presidential elections. And it conflicts with the plain language of A.R.S § 16-550 which requires the signature on the affidavit envelope for active early voters to be compared to the signature of the voter in the voter’s registration record.
The list of issues is plentiful, and we could go on and on. But it’s important to note that Fontes attempted to rush this version of the EPM through by deliberately shortening the typical public comment period from one month to two weeks in hopes that most of this wouldn’t get caught by the public. But the Arizona Free Enterprise Club was on top of it and submitted public comments on these issues and more before the shortened deadline.
Now, Adrian Fontes needs to take the necessary actions to fix the EPM and produce a neutral one that is consistent with state law. And if he doesn’t, the Arizona State Senate should follow through on its threat to take legal action against him.
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.
by admin | Aug 18, 2023 | News and Updates, Regulatory
For years, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has been the stomping ground for the left to push its Green New Deal Agenda. In fact, it was just over two years ago when the commission quietly released its plan to impose California-style energy mandates in our state. Their goal was to ban fossil fuels and require most electricity companies to provide “clean” energy by 2050. Thankfully, the commission voted down these energy mandates in January 2022. But that hasn’t stopped the left from trying to find other ways to exploit the ACC.
One of their latest efforts has centered on Tucson, where they tried to push Prop 412 to create a taxpayer slush fund for Green New Deal pet projects. After a concerted effort to fight back with facts and inform the people of Tuson about what Prop 412 would mean for them, it was defeated. But the left wasn’t done yet.
As part of its Green New Deal agenda, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) also asked the ACC for rate hikes to subsidize electric vehicles (EV) that strain the grid and increase the risk of blackouts. TEP has been offering owners of electric vehicles (and them only) special, low electricity rates. They also give EV owners an additional five percent reduction for certain surcharges, just for owning an EV. These artificially low rates are to encourage EV owners to charge their cars overnight because TEP worries that charging during the day will crash the grid and cause blackouts.
This is not only unreasonable, but it’s unfair. Non-EV owners should never be forced to subsidize the cost of EVs or pay for incentives that attempt to protect the grid from the strain EVs put on it.
That’s why Commissioner Nick Myers proposed several amendments to the proposed rate hike to roll back subsidies for EVs. And the Free Enterprise Club helped lead the charge to get several TEP customers to email and show up at the commission hearing to oppose the EV subsidies.
While TEP did end up getting a rate hike, eight amendments from Commissioner Myers were adopted, resulting in a reduced rate increase for TEP customers. Among the amendments adopted were:
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- An elimination of the unfair subsidy benefiting EV owners.
- A requirement to refund customers any unused Demand-Side Management Surcharge funds remaining after December 31, 2023.
- A modification of TEP’s rate plans to encourage off-peak vehicle charging.
Because of these efforts, the estimated bill increase for TEP customers will be lower than originally proposed. And that’s a big win for ratepayers. After all, if someone wants to own an electric vehicle, it is within their right to do so. But EV owners should be the ones responsible for paying for the costs associated with the necessary infrastructure improvements. And they certainly should be paying for any excessive demand placed on the grid—not getting discounted rates.
Now, ratepayers in Tucson will have a little less money taken from their wallets, and this victory is another example of why it’s so important to stay informed, get involved, and fight back.
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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