Arizona State Senate Majority Caucus Promises to Keep Republican Values at the Center of Legislation Going into New Session

Neil Jones

The Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus (Caucus) released its 2023 Majority Plan on Thursday, outlining priorities and approaches to strengthening the state and tackling important issues. Kim Quintero, director of communications for the Caucus, told The Arizona Sun Times that the elected officials would do their best to honor the Republican values they ran on while working under newly sworn-in Gov. Katie Hobbs (D).

“There are issues that our Caucus is going to agree on with Governor Hobbs and that are bipartisan in nature, such as water and transportation. Then there will be issues that we will not see eye to eye on,” Quintero said via email. “At the end of the day, the voters that elected our Republican Senators into office are holding them to a high standard to represent them by keeping fundamental Republican values at the center of any reform or legislation our Caucus pushes this session, and our Senators will honor those voters by doing just that.”

The Sun Times reached out to Hobbs for a comment but did not hear back before publishing.

Education

The first item on the Caucus’s list is continuing the make Arizona an education powerhouse in the nation. In July, former Gov Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2853 into law, creating an opportunity for every family with a school-aged child to participate in the first-of-its-kind universal Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program. However, Hobbs is a vocal opponent of the school voucher program, as she stated it takes money away from public schools.

Therefore, the Caucus stated it would be passionate about protecting the ESA program and ensuring that families have the resources they need to receive the best possible education. Additionally, transparency will be another sticking point for the Caucus, stating they would work to ensure issues that conflict with “personal family values” are not being taught behind parents’ backs.

Finances

Another goal for the Caucus will be to put money back into the pockets of Arizonans. As reported by The Sun Times, State Senate President-Elect Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) previously announced his plan to get this objective done by eliminating the sales and property taxes. Petersen said that the goal is to give lower-income Arizonans a cash cushion to help deal with the effects of inflation.

Moreover, as supporters of free enterprise, the Caucus stated it would look for areas where it could reduce government red tape to make Arizona as business-friendly as possible.

Elections

Election integrity continues to be a hot-button issue for Arizona, and the Caucus pledged to continue the fight for a stronger system. While not every election integrity bill made it through the Senate during the previous session, the Caucus stated they support legislation that would ensure accuracy for the voter rolls, allow for the in-person tabulation of early drop-off ballots when an ID is presented, and expedite election night results without sacrificing accuracy.

Housing & Homelessness

Between July 1, 2021, and July 1, 2022, Arizona’s population grew by 94,320 individuals, a 1.3 percent increase, making Arizona the fifth state in the nation for the population in a single year. To accommodate this rapid growth, the Caucus supports speeding up the housing project approval process to increase the housing supply to meet the demand.

The same goes for homeless housing. With hundreds of homeless people inhabiting “the Zone” in downtown Phoenix, the Caucus said it would work to create more shelters and get people off the street and to the help they need.

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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Katie Hobbs and Doug Ducey” by Katie Hobbs.

 

 

 

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