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  Prescott Indivisible Community News & Calls for Action July 11, 2021 Note from Maria Lynam, Editor – I was planning that last week would be my last Legislative Update, but in my opinion, the AZ Legislature and Gov. Ducey left us with a great deal of detritus to ‘clean up’. This newsletter will continue to keep you informed of what’s going on in AZ, to remind you of actions you can take. It is imperative that each of us show up and sign the petitions noted below and, if possible, take a few and gather signatures. I don’t have to tell you what will happen to public education and our voting rights if we don’t succeed. Don’t let your actions stop with petitions–if you can’t attend tonight’s session on Redistricting and Communities of Interest, a special edition will be forthcoming this week with more details on how you can participate. Thanks to Leah Greenburg for her insightful comments at the PI General Meeting last week and to all of you who attended. (How fortunate is PI to have both Ezra and Leah rooting for us!) The Defend Our Democracy Car Parade was another success–thanks to all who organized this event and those who braved the hail, rain and wind & showed up.  AZ Independent Redistricting Commission News COMMUNITY OF INTEREST WORKSHOP With Indivisible’s Redistricting Team Sunday, July 11, 5-6 pm Register HERE The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission will be in Prescott Tues. July 27, 5 p.m. The main location will be at Yavapai College – Prescott Campus, 1110 E. Sheldon St., Prescott, with two satellite locations: Yavapai College, Sedona Campus, 4215 Arts Village Drive, Sedona and Congress Elementary School, 26400 S. Tenderfoot Hill Rd. Congress. Get ready to participate by attending this workshop to understand and draw our communities of interest. More information on specific talking points and other presentations you can attend will be sent later this week. Questions, contact Maria Lynam, [email protected] or Maria-Elena Dunn, [email protected].  Election Info for the Dewey-Humboldt and the Recall Election Election Info for the Prescott & Residents & the City Elections – Thanks to Lesley McKeown, YCDP for the graphic Help Clean Up What the AZ Legislature Left Behind! Find out what’s up!Civic Engagement Beyond Voting’s SESSION WRAP-UP HAPPY HOUR is tonight, Sunday, July 11 at 4 pm. Sign up HERE! Keep Up to Date – for a comprehensive update on this legislative session and what’s going on with the LD1 legislators, READ THIS! To keep up to date with what’s going on in LD1, join the Facebook LD1 Legislative Action page. It is private, so you must ask to be a member. Ruth Lambert is constantly updating and will include new petition information going forward. Continued Assault on Public Education The Flat-Tax and 4.5% Cap to Shield High-Income Earners Monday, July 12 9:30am – 11:30am. Starbucks, Frontier Village, Rt. 69, Prescott. Meet Rosemary Agneessens who will have information and petitions for you to sign or take with you. HERE is the Flat Tax graph — these numbers present real impacts on tax cuts and are from the AZ Center for Economic Progress and from the non-partisan JLBC data. Arizona now has a new tax category for small-business income, a classification created to shield many high-income earners from the education tax surcharge voters approved last fall….By creating a new tax category that was not in existence when Proposition 208 passed, taxpayers can avoid the surcharge. The law defines small-business income as interest, dividends, profits and certain capital gains. That captures many small businesses, but also includes individuals with investment earnings. Proponents of the bill hailed it as a way to keep Arizona competitive by keeping tax rates low. The legislation taxes small-business income earned this year at a rate of 3.5% and drops the rate to 2.5% by 2025. Critics have called it an insult to the voters who approved Proposition 208 last November and have signaled they will fight it, possibly in court as a violation of the Voter Protection Act. It is estimated to cut the projected revenue from Proposition 208 by up to $378 million a year, more than a third of the measure’s anticipated tax collection. Please read this AZ Republic article from July 9 – “Gov. Doug Ducey signs education bills targeting sex education, school funding proposition.” Stop Voter Suppression Laws – AZ Deserves Better and Stop Dark Money Petitions for all initiatives are at the Yavapai County Democratic Headquarters 1555 Iron Springs Rd., Prescott. Open 11am-3pm Mon-Fri. and Saturdays July 24, Aug. 7, 21, Sept. 4, 18 – 10am-2pm The following petitions are available: Stop Dark Money; Referendum on SB1485 (PEVL purge); Referendum on HB2569 (prohibiting grants for elections and voter registration); Referendum on SB1819 (Limits secretary of state’s authority to defend state election laws, counter fraud measures that could violate the ballot secrecy guarantee of the Arizona Constitution). Please stop by, sign petitions and take them to gather signatures. Time is of the essence for the referendum initiative petitions because they only have 90 days from the day the current legislative session ends in which to get 150,000 signatures statewide (118,000 valid and then a buffer) in order to stop this law from taking effect and instead refer it to the ballot for the November 2022 election. If you want to help (and there is lots to do in the next 90 days), contact Diane McQueen, Ground Game Coordinator, Stop Dark Money, [email protected] 928-699-4308. Notarized petitions can be dropped off at YavDem Headquarters anytime. A notary is also available on Saturdays and Thursday afternoons. Keep calling Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema and ask they pass S.1 and eliminate the filibuster.The more sustained pressure we can build, the more senators will realize we demand real action. So keep calling every single day, and send the link to your friends too. (Contact info below). NATIONAL, STATE, AND LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES SENATOR MARK KELLY Hart Senate Office Bldg., Suite 516, Washington, DC 20510 202-224-2235 https://www.kelly.senate.gov/ Prescott Office – 107 N. Cortez, Prescott 86301 928-420-7732 SENATOR KYRSTEN SINEMA 825 B&C Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 202-224-4521 https://www.sinema.senate.gov/ Phoenix Office – 3333 E. Camelback Rd., Ste 200 Phoenix, AZ 85018 602-598-7372 REPRESENTATIVE PAUL GOSAR 2057 Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC 20515 202-225-2315 6499 S. Kings Ranch Rd. #4, Gold Canyon, AZ 85118 480-882-2697 220 N. 4th St., Kingman, AZ (by appt. only) 122 N. Cortez St., Suite 104, Prescott, AZ 86301 928-445-1683 http://paulgosar.house.gov/contact/ Arizona GOVERNOR DOUG DUCEY State Capitol, 1700 West Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007 602.542.4331 http://azgovernor.gov/governor/form/contact-governor-ducey Legislature http://www.azleg.gov/ Senator Karen Fann [email protected] 602-926-5874 Rep. Judy Burges [email protected] 602-926-3256 Rep. Qwang Nguyen [email protected] (602) 926-3258 Prescott MAYOR GREG MENGARELLI 201 S. Cortez St. Prescott 928.777.1248 Start a discussion on: TWITTER @IndivisPrescott Facebook (Public page) /Facebook (Closed group) prescottindivisible.org [email protected] Prescott Indivisible on YouTube |
