 |
Legislative Director
Scott D. Ferrin
602-366-7498
National Health Care Reform
Senate Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) and the House Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Bill of 2010 (H.R. 4782) – Click for attachment
HIRE Act
H.R.2847 - Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act – HIRE ACT
Arizona Specific
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas to Run for Attorney General
Andrew Thomas, announced on Thursday that he will be resigning his office on April 6th to run for Arizona Attorney General. Thomas, known for his hard-line stance on illegal immigration, announced his intentions to run just a few short days after the death of well known Southern Arizona rancher, Robert Krentz. According to the Capitol Times, his consultant Jason Rose said that those events took him from being “95 percent certain to 100 percent certain” in running. Mr. Thomas will be squaring off with Tom Horne, who is currently the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association Reportedly Close to Filing AHCCCS Proposition
In a dual effort to curtail the loss of AHCCCS funds and to fund the expansion of Medicaid, the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association will be proposing an increase in the personal income tax on the November ballot. If approved by the voters, the personal income tax will be increased to 5.4% from 4.54%, which represents a 22% increase. AHHA President, John Rivers, seems to be very optimistic about the propositions passage. However, battle lines are already starting to become clearly drawn as the Arizona Free Enterprise Club is reporting that approximately 75% of Arizona businesses use the personal income tax code to file their taxes.
Changes in Campaign Finance Signed Into Law by Gov. Brewer
At the behest of Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Speaker of the House Kirk Adams sponsored HB2788 which is legislation that will now bring Arizona into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United V. Federal Elections Commission. The decision, which was made in January, dissolves a ban directed at preventing corporations and unions from spending money directly on candidate and issue campaigns. While the legislation does expressly allow for corporate and union money to be used in “Independent Expenditure Committees”, it also requires that these committees file a campaign finance report with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office within one day of spending an aggregate of $5,000 on a statewide election, $2,500 on a legislative race and $1,000 in a local or county race. Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Capitol Times is reporting that Arizona was one of 23 states that had a complete ban on corporate and union spending in elections.
HB2430 Revised Uniform Arbitration Act - Sponsored by Rep. Driggs
Establishes the revised uniform arbitration act, governing arbitration actions or proceedings beginning January 1, 2011. Possible vehicle to amend to include the repeal of ARS 12-1517 which AZSHRM ran in 2006 but was vetoed by the Governor. New Activity - assigned to House Judiciary Committee and passed unanimously with an amendment on February 18th. HB2430 was approved by House Rules on March 3 and on March 4 was approved by House COW. It passed the House, 51 to 3, on March 15 and has since been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be given a hearing on Monday, April 5, 2010.
HB2477 Civil Actions; Public Employee Definition - Sponsored by Rep. Konopnicki
Adds leased employees to the definition of “employee” for the purposes of actions against public entities or public employees. New Activity - assigned to House Judiciary Committee and was passed, unanimously, February 11th. On March 3 it was approved by Rules and was passed on March 15 in the House COW. On March 24, the bill passed 54 to 0 in the House. It has since been sent to the Senate, referred to the Senate Government Committee and on April 1, it was passed.
HB2594 Professional Employer Organizations; Agreements - Sponsored by Rep. Reagan - DEAD
If a professional employer agreement does not provide for the professional employer organization (PEO) to purchase workers' compensation for covered employees, the client is responsible to purchase a client based policy for all employees. If the agreement provides for the PEO to purchase workers' compensation, the PEO must purchase an individual policy, master policy, or multiple coordinated policies. Additional requirements are established for a PEO purchasing a master policy or multiple coordinated policies. New Activity - assigned to both House Banking & Insurance as well as Commerce Committees.
HB2595 Enterprise Zone; Jobs Incentives - Sponsored by Rep. Reagan
Makes changes to the enterprise zone tax incentives including income and property tax qualifications to require businesses to create jobs in AZ that meet specific wage requirements or make capital improvements. Removes the provision for the business to be located in a specific geographic area. New Activity - This is part of the House leadership job creation package.
HCM2002 and SCM1002 Health Care Reform - Sponsored by Rep. Tobin and Senator Carolyn Allen
Urges Congress to ensure that any federal health care legislation contains an equitable distribution of Medicaid funding through a formula that considers caseload growth, state revenues and state budget shortfalls. Further, that Congress consider flexibility for states to adjust services if federal assistance is insufficient to meet requirements. New Activity – HCM2002 passed with an 8-1 vote from the House Health Committee on January 17th, SCM1002 passed unanimously out of the Senate Health Committee on January 28th as well as the Senate Rules Committee on the 2nd. SCM1002 was passed unanimously by the entire Senate on February 15th. SCM1002, on March 17th, was passed out of the House Health and Human Services Committee. HCM2002 was passed on February 15th by the House Rules Committee and passed out of the House Committee of the Whole on February 18th. It was passed by the entire House of Representatives on February 23rd by, largely, a party line vote of 34 to 23. HCM2002 was passed on March 17th out of the Senate Health Committee.
HB2250- Arizona’s Job Recovery Act – Sponsored by Rep. Adams
The state equalization assistance property tax is repealed effective tax year 2014, and a reduced rate is established for tax years 2011 through 2013. Reduces individual and corporate income tax rates each year for tax years 2011 through 2014. Reduces the property tax rate on class 1 property and class 6 property by 1% each year for the next 5 years. Repeals the temporary reduction of required income rates used to calculate unemployment contributions (previously set to repeal on Jan 1, 2012). Expands the use of Enterprise Zones for local manufactures. New Activity – Passed out of the House Ways and Means and Rules Committee’s in late January. On the floor, the bill was passed 34-25, along party lines with Rep. Doug Quelland, a Republican, being the only one to vote opposite of their party. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee and will be given a hearing on Wednesday.
www.shrm.org/government
www.azleg.state.az.us
www.congress.org
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct
HR Voice
Additional HR Voice information can be found at SHRM. org - (SHRM » Advocacy » Get Involved) |
|
