Pharmacy Director Kam Ghandi

HB2269 Creates Process to Give Unused Medicine to the Poor (video)

All too often my video updates focus on bad bills that the Arizona Legislature is considering. To end week three of the Legislature on a high point, here is a good bill. HB2269 sets up a process for donating unused, good medications to people in need. Under HB2269, nursing homes, assisted living centers, and people … Read more

US-Mexico Border Wall in Nogales

Build Your Own Border Wall Bill Dead for Now in #AZLeg (video)

Majority Leader Rep. Warren Petersen’s (R-Gilbert) build your own border wall bill (HB2084) moved quickly through the process in the Arizona House. It was assigned to the Federal Relations and Rules Committees on the first day of the 2020 session. It passed out of Rep. Mark Finchem’s (R- Oro Valley) federalism committee last week, out … Read more

Rep. Powers Hannley with prison reform advocates

Should Prisoners Be Paid Minimum Wage? (video)

The minimum wage in Arizona is $12 per hour. Arizona prisoners do a variety of jobs from manual labor to answering phones for the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), for which they are paid anywhere between 10 cents to $3 per hour. The ADOT Service Arizona call center workers are the highest paid prisoners, but … Read more

Red for Ed: Never Forget

GOP legislators seek to create ballot confusion on education measures

The Arizona GOP is turning to its old bag of tricks again: put competing measures on the ballot to create ballot confusion and hope that exasperated voters will just vote “no” on both measures out of frustration. Howard Fischer reports, Senate panel OKs ballot proposal to hike special sales tax for education funding: State lawmakers … Read more