#AZBackward – Powers For the People

#HB2388: Big Brother Meets Aunt Lydia (video)

Posted on February 9, 2020February 14, 2023 by Pamela J. Powers

With big data surveillance, church recruitment, government-funded, incomplete and biased medical information, and unregulated clinics providing “all wrap-around pregnancy, counseling and post-childbirth services”, HB2388 is Big Brother and Aunt Lydia’s love child.

Last week was draining– with multiple tax cuts in Ways and Means, fake pregnancy centers in Health and Human Services (HB2388), and passage of the Build Your Own Border Wall on the House floor on reconsideration. (Another Zombie Bill brought back from the dead).

I recorded the video (below) late in the day on Thursday after the end of a two-part, marathon health committee meeting with multiple ideological debates. I am proud to serve with Dr. Amish Shah, and Reps. Kelli Butler and Alma Hernandez. The four of us did a great job standing up for patient choice, reproductive rights, medically accurate and unbiased information, science, privacy and separation of church and state.

#AZ Republican Budget Cuts Taxes by $386 Mil & Shortchanges K-12 (video)

Posted on May 23, 2019February 15, 2023 by Pamela J. Powers

One of the prevailing messages from the grassroots in 2018 was: no more tax giveaways until the schools are fully funded. Republicans didn’t get that message. They also didn’t get the Invest In Ed message that we — the people– think the rich could pay more in taxes to help fund education.

The Republican budget cuts income taxes, TPT and fees by $386 million and leaves education and other needs underfunded (or unfunded).

We started the year with a $1 billion surplus to invest in the People’s To-Do List: education, infrastructure, healthcare and safety and security. The Republicans have added bits of money to these areas — just enough to make it look like they’re doing something— but the need is much greater.

Republicans are ignoring multiple crises that are brewing in our state including unnecessary maternal and child death; rock bottom education funding; crumbling roads, bridges and school buildings; lack affordable and low-income housing; the shortage of teachers, doctors and nurses; too many people living in poverty; lack of access to affordable healthcare… need I go on?

Raising Revenue Is Key to Getting Arizona’s Economy Back on Track (video)

Posted on September 15, 2015December 4, 2015 by Pamela J. Powers

Shortly after Governor Doug Ducey took office in 2015, he infamously said that just because Arizona doesn’t have enough money doesn’t mean we need to raise revenue. In early January, he released a budget that failed to pay back the millions of dollars the Arizona Legislature stole from the education fund when it broke the law, but it did include a transfer of funds from the rainy fund, additional unaffordable tax cuts for out-of-state businesses, money for private prisons, and millions of dollars in cuts — most notably to K-12 education, the university system, and the community college system. More austerity is not the road to prosperity.

Continue reading Raising Revenue Is Key to Getting Arizona’s Economy Back on Track (video)