Voters in the red state of Utah last November voted to expand Medicaid coverage to 150,000 uninsured people in the state, with 53 percent in favor. But the Republican state legislators they also elected to office in November had other ideas. “We will decide, and you will obey!” Utah Voters Approved Medicaid Expansion, But State Lawmakers Are Balking.
Authoritarian Republicans rejected the clear will of the voters, and greatly curtailed the Medicaid expansion plan that voters believed they had approved in November. Utah Governor Signs Plan To Minimize Voter-Approved Medicaid Expansion, Offering Road Map To Other Red States. “This is a dark day for democracy in Utah,” said Andrew Roberts, a spokesman for the group Utah Decides.
Something similar is happening here in Arizona. Arizona voters voted overwhelmingly in favor of the referendum rejecting the “vouchers on steroids” bill passed by the GOP-controlled state legislature in 2017 (Prop. 305). The Voter Protection Act should protect the will of the voters expressed in this ballot measure.
But authoritarian Republicans in the Arizona Legislature reject the will of the voters — and piss on the Voter Protection Act — by pursuing yet another expansion of school vouchers to privatize public education. “We will decide, and you will obey!” Senate panel OKs new school voucher bill, despite recent rejection by Arizona voters:
Rejecting claims it was ignoring the will of voters, a Senate panel voted Wednesday to advance SB 1395 (.pdf) to alter the rules governing the use of vouchers of state dollars by parents to send their children to private and parochial schools.
Sen. Sylvia “The earth is 6000 years old” Allen, R-Snowflake, acknowledged many of the provisions in her SB 1395 were sent to voters last year as part of Proposition 305, which was rejected by voters by a 2-1 margin.
But Allen told members of the Senate Finance Committee she is not trying to override that vote (oh yes, she is). Allen said what’s in her bill wasn’t the focus of voters — or the cause of defeat for changes in the program formally known as empowerment scholarship accounts.
“What they were focused on and heard over and over again was this was expanding the program to all families, that rich people were going to benefit from these ESAs, and that this money was going to religious schools,” she said. All were part of Proposition 305.