More proof Arizona lawmakers hate working people
Opinion: Over the years the Republicans who control the Legislature have made it more difficult for working people to vote, educate their kids and, yes, earn a decent living.
EJ Montini
Late in the last legislative session the Republican lawmakers who run the State Capitol decided to pass a law that would punish any city or county in Arizona that came to the conclusion that working people deserve to earn a decent wage.
It goes back to lawmakers not liking the fact that voters in Flagstaff decided to raise the minimum wage for workers in their city to a level higher than the rest of the state. (It’s $11 per hour in the rest of Arizona, $12 in Flagstaff.)
The Republicans who control the Legislature can’t abide cities or counties in the state believing they have a right to govern themselves. They don’t like it, and have passed laws to prevent it when it has come to things like voting and ballot initiatives and education and firearms and, yes, wages.
Hammering self-governance
The new law, as described in a article by The Arizona Republic’s Andrew Oxford, allows for the state to figure out if a community with a higher minimum wage is causing the state to pay more for services there and, if so, to require the local government to pick up the added costs.
It’s the Legislature’s way of firing another shot over the bow of cities and towns, and of sticking it to the very people who elected them.
Tom Belshe, deputy director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns said, "I do believe it was meant to have a chilling effect.”
Ya think?
You can't be trusted
It’s how the Republicans who control the Legislature operate.
They seem to believe that the last smart thing voters did, or will ever do, was to elect them.
And that you cannot be trusted to do anything else that is wise or intelligent when it comes to self-governance.
And as long as you continue to reelect them, they may be right.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.