ARIZONA CATHOLIC CONFERENCE
Legislative Update 03-01-25
Crossover Week
This past week was crossover week at the Legislature where there was a major push to move bills from one chamber to the other. Accordingly, the Legislature worked very long floor sessions all week as the midpoint of the session approaches.
Crossover week also means that the deadline for bills to advance out of committees in their house of origin has now arrived. If a piece of legislation has failed to advance out of a committee by now, it is generally considered to be dead.
Because of this deadline, all of the problematic bills to end or curtail tuition tax credits and ESAs all failed to advance. Additionally, bills to promote assisted suicide or promote abortion can now also be considered dead. Finally, extremely problematic legislation to pierce the Seal of Confession was also again introduced this session but thankfully died without a hearing.
Despite all of the good news on bad bills that died this week, it should be noted that nothing is truly dead until the session is over due to various amendments and mechanisms. Additionally, efforts pertaining to immigrant families and children who have spent most of their lives in Arizona remain a top concern as the session progresses.
Finally, it should also be noted that some positive bills are still alive including an effort to help churches create more affordable housing on their properties (HB 2191) and a proposal to increase the kinship care stipend for extended relatives taking care of children who otherwise would end up in foster care (SB 1490).
Many more issues remain to be decided, especially as they relate to government funding. Ultimately, these matters, however, will not be decided until the budget is approved later this session.
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