This week will be a tricky one – especially in the House. That’s because Representative Stringer (R-Prescott) resigned last week (I’m sure you’ve heard about the details regarding why- so I’ll spare you that). His replacement hasn’t been named yet by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors. Until someone is named it’ll probably slow things down in the house- because the party margin is now 30-29… meaning that for partisan votes there aren’t 31 Republicans anymore (temporarily).
There’s not much new since last week’s legislative update except a new strike all bill (SB 1147) which makes changes to how cigarettes and e-cigarettes are regulated. Here’s the House’s summary of the Bill. It received a pass recommendation from the House Health and Human Services Committee (5-4).
If you read the summary you’ll see that the bill is pretty complicated and involves a number of different laws- plus- there were a number of confusing amendments that were discussed in committee.
We’ll pay a lot of attention to this bill in the coming week and make sure that our position is consistent with our previous resolutions on this important public health subject.
Lots of bills still need to go to the Rules Committee before being released to a floor vote. Here’s our weekly spreadsheet with the bill updates.
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Remember- there’s only a month to go until our Spring Summit: From Ideas to Action: Addressing Arizona Children’s Oral Health Disparities
Thanks to a generous grant from the Arizona Oral Health Coalition & the Denta Quest Foundation, we are able to offer a special registration discount for AzPHA members of only $65!
Register as a Member of AzPHA ……………………………………….……. $65
Non-Member Registration w/Free AzPHA Membership ……….. $140