Religious Freedom Doesn’t Mean Total Legal Immunity
HB2648, a bill written in reaction to public safety closures during the pandemic, carves out huge areas of legal immunity for a dangerously broad category of religious organizations. On its face, the bill is meant to simply protect religious organizations from closure during crises: its headline is “Religion is Essential.” But as it is written, would shield religious organizations entirely from civil or criminal penalty for any actions they take, including any potential abuse.
Call or email these key senators to share the dangers of this bill
Tyler Pace: tpace@azleg.gov | (602) 926-5760
Thomas Shope: tshope@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3012
Michelle Ugenti-Rita: mugenti-rita@azleg.gov | (602) 926-4480
Kelly Townsend: ktownsend@azleg.gov | (602) 926-4467
Paul Boyer: pboyer@azleg.gov | (602) 926-4173
Karen Fann: kfann@azleg.gov | (602) 926-5874
And contact your state senator to encourage them to vote against HB2648.
SB1485: a Threat to Voting Rights
SB1485 (a “strike everything” zombie of SB1069) is a voter suppression bill that targets the Permanent Early Voter List. The bill scratches out the word “permanent” in red over two dozen times, and creates a process to remove permanent early voters from the list in the event that, for two consecutive elections, they do not vote in both the primary and general elections. This means that many regular voters could be purged from the Permanent Early Voter List, particularly independent voters not included by partisan primaries, who make up nearly a third of all registered voters in Arizona.
Sign up for Request to Speak, the Arizona Legislature’s official comments platform, and register your opposition to SB1485 ahead of its hearing in the rules committee.
Policy Briefing: What to Watch Out For
These four dangerous bills have passed the Senate and been transmitted to the House, where they have yet to receive hearings.
SB1456 bans sex education before the 5th grade and creates unnecessary hurdles to HIV prevention education. This bill would create a double opt-in process: first, parents need to opt their student into sex education; then, second, would need to opt their student into HIV prevention education. Basic topics of gender identity and gender expression are similarly put behind an opt-in process.
SB1457 leverages ableist appropriations of the lives and experiences of people with genetic differences to create sweeping felony penalties for people seeking or performing abortions. Additionally, it prohibits clinics at public and charter schools, community colleges, and state universities from providing referrals for abortion services.
SB1713 is a voter suppression bill that would require voters to submit proof of their ID when returning ballots by mail, introducing additional obstacles to voting that are entirely unnecessary, because this information is required during voter registration.
SB1362 is an anti-abortion bill that extends the right of healthcare facilities to turn away individuals seeking abortion care. It also dangerously introduces a definition of emergency contraception as a “health care item or service for the purpose of causing or assisting in causing the death of any individual.”