The Fountain Hills state legislative team comprised of Senator John Kavanagh, Representative Joseph Chaplik and freshman Representative Alex Kolodin provided a legislative update to members of the Fountain Hills Republican Club (FHRC) on Saturday, Jan. 21.

At the meeting, Senator Kavanagh outlined dozens of bills that he is currently sponsoring. As Chairman of Appropriations, Kavanagh is working closely with Representative Chaplik, the vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Appropriations Committee focuses on the state budget and how money is spent. According to Nancy Plencner, a spokesperson for FHRC, Kavanagh and Chaplik will have much to say on the amount of state money that is made available. It was reported that the state of Arizona currently has a budget surplus.

According to Plencner, Representative Kolodin said there are two ways to govern. One is to send legislatively-passed bills to the governor for signing into law or, referred to as “Kolodin’s Plan B,” referring issues directly to the voters of Arizona.

The Legislature has the option of a direct approach to put issues before the people of Arizona to vote on, Plencner said, adding that Kolodin is also proposing to exercise legislative oversight power.

“It is the legislature that is the watchdog to determine if illegalities are taking place, to determine if the laws as passed are duly enforced,” Plencner said. “Some examples given of issues that might be referred to the ballot are eliminate the state income tax, break up the size of Maricopa County, as generally smaller government is more efficient.”

Representative Chaplik is now an adjunct of the U.S. House of Representatives Freedom Caucus. The freshman class is comprised of many conservative legislators. According to Plencner, Chaplik’s focus is on citizens’ right to privacy, specifically businesses that will not take cash. Chaplik’s bill would ban that practice.

According to Plencner, Senator Kavanagh introduced a bill stating that written parental permission must be obtained for a student to be allowed to use a different pronoun or name than what is on the school record.

Another education-related bill from Kavanagh involved a situation in which parents sue a school and lose (the exemption is if the suit is frivolous), they are no longer hit with legal costs incurred by the School District.

“Establishing free speech zones on every campus, including universities, where any opinions and open speech are allowed and for those wanting to destroy public monuments, Kavanagh proposes huge fines to be levied,” a breakdown of the meeting stated. “In addition, Kavanaugh said homeless issues would include no begging or sleeping on the streets.”

According to Plencner, 2023 and the 56th Session of the Legislature is starting out to be an exciting year. She urges citizens to attend Fountain Hills Town Council meetings on the first and third Tuesday of every month, catch the action going on at the State Legislature or attend the Fountain Hills School Board meetings on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month.

For further details on the FHRC, visit fountainhillsrepublicanclub.com or search for the club on Facebook.