News

Arizona Legislature Announces Leadership Teams, Committee Assignments

Earlier this month, the Legislature elected its leadership teams. While many leaders are staying the same from the 54^th Legislature, there are some fresh faces as well. On the House side, Rep. Rusty Bowers, (LD25) was re-elected Speaker by the majority. His leadership team includes Rep. Ben Toma (LD22) as Majority Leader, and Rep. Leo Biasiucci (LD5) as Majority Whip. Speaker Bowers appointed Rep. Travis Grantham (LD12) as Speaker Pro Tempore. Democrats elected a new slate, including Majority Leader Reginald Bolding (LD27), Assistant Leader Jennifer Longdon (LD24), and Rep. Domingo DeGrazia as Minority Whip (LD10).

In the Senate, Senator Karen Fann (LD1) was re-elected President of the Senate. Her team includes Sen. Rick Gray (LD21) as Majority Leader and Sen. Sonny Borrelli (LD5) as Majority Whip. Democrats elected Sen. Rebecca Rios (LD27) as Minority Leader, Sen. Lupe Contreras (LD19) as Assistant Minority Leader, and co-whips—Sen. Martin Quezada (LD29) and Sen. Victoria Steele (LD9).

Last week, Speaker Rusty Bowers and President Karen Fann announced the Chairs for the upcoming 2021 Legislative Session. The House Minority Leader Rep. Reginald Bolding also announced Committee assignments for his caucus. On the Senate side, the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services will be chaired by former House Chair Nancy Barto (LD15). Her Vice-Chair will be Senator Tyler Pace (LD25). The official announcement is available here.

On the House side, we will have a new Committee Chair in Rep. Joanne Osborne (LD13). Her Vice Chair will be Rep. Regina Cobb (LD5), who Chairs the Appropriations Committee and is a dentist in her private life. The Majority also assigned three freshman legislators to the Committee: Rep. Justin Wilmeth (LD15), Rep. Jacqueline Parker (LD16), and Rep. Joseph Chaplik (LD23). For the Minority, the Ranking Member will be Rep. Kelli Butler (LD28). She will be joined by Rep. Randy Friese, M.D. (LD9), Rep. Amish Shah, M.D. (LD24), and Rep. Alma Hernandez, MPH (LD3).

You can find the Republican House announcement here. The Democratic House announcement is here.

When the 2021 Legislative Session commences early next year, it appears as though the balance of power in the House will remain the same, with 31 Republicans and 29 Democrats in office. The Arizona Senate will become more evenly split as Democrats gain a seat, with 16 Republicans and 14 Democrats rounding out that chamber.

Arizona Election Results — What We Know So Far

First, we must mention that Arizona doesn’t certify final election results until November 10, at the earliest. This is a long-time Arizona law, so it’s not unusual for us to wait at least a week to know our winners. However, here is what we do know as of this writing (Tuesday, November 10). So stay tuned as we’ll be sure to update you again once the election results are final!

Presidential Race

All eyes were on Arizona last week as votes began to be tallied across the state. Although some news organizations quickly projected Biden as the winner in Arizona, others chose a more cautious approach. Early returns showed Joe Biden with a commanding lead, and as additional ballots were counted, Biden held that lead, but it has narrowed. Currently, Biden leads by about 14,800 votes. There are still around 63,000 ballots left to count statewide, with over half of those ballots coming from Maricopa County. If current trends continue with the remaining ballots, Biden will win Arizona’s 11 electoral votes. Regardless of the outcome here in Arizona, major media outlets projected that Biden would become president-elect after appearing to secure enough votes to capture Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes on Saturday morning.

Congressional Races

The projected winner of the election to fill the late Sen. John McCain’s Senate seat is Democrat Mark Kelly. He defeated Republican appointee Martha McSally in one of the few Democratic pickups nationally. As this is a special election, Kelly will have to run for reelection again in 2022. For the nine congressional seats in the U.S. House, at this time, it looks as though all incumbents will be re-elected and the delegation would remain at five Democrats and four Republicans.

Legislative Races

Early on, it looked like the Arizona House would shift to Democratic party control, but based on the vote counts, it seems more likely that Republicans will maintain control of both chambers by the slimmest of margins. There are still uncounted votes that could cause a few of the close races to flip, but with current vote totals, this is the most likely outcome. The current makeup of the House would stay the same, slight Republican majority, and Democrats would pick up one seat in the Senate, bringing the makeup to 16 Republicans and 14 Democrats. Names with asterisks are ArMPAC-endorsed candidates.

Ballot Propositions

While several other races are uncertain right now, both ballot measures have strong indications of passage. Prop. 207, the Smart and Safe Arizona Act, to legalize recreational marijuana has about 60% ‘yes’ votes. Prop. 208, the Invest in Education Act, which adds a tax surcharge on the wealthiest income brackets, currently has 52% ‘yes’ votes.

Election Day is Today – Be Sure To Vote By 7PM!

Election Day is today! After months of waiting, Arizonans now have the opportunity to take control of who their elected officials will be, including what the State Legislature will look like heading into the 2021 Legislative Session. In reality, Arizonans have already been voting for about a month now—and smashing several early voter turnout records while doing it. The same increase in turnout has been seen in other states across the country.

If you plan on voting today, whether it’s by dropping off your ballot or voting in person, ArMPAC wants you to be prepared. Earlier this month ArMPAC announced its final candidate endorsements ahead of the General Election. You can click here to take a look.

“These candidates were thoroughly vetted by our diverse board and we are excited about their promising impact on healthcare in Arizona,” stated Gary Figge, MD, ArMPAC Board Chair, in a recent press release. “As we approach Election Day and the 2021 Legislative Session soon after, it could not be more clear that Arizona’s physician and patient communities deserve strong and thoughtful voices in state government—and we believe that the candidates we have endorsed will be exactly that.”

Head to arizona.vote for more information on today’s elections. As a final reminder, be sure to drop off your ballot or be in line to vote by 7 p.m. local time to ensure that your ballot will be counted!

Arizona Voters Under 30 Show Dramatic Increase in Turnout

As early voting concludes in Arizona with Election Day still on the horizon, young voters in the state have already cast more ballots in this year’s elections than they did in the elections that were held four years ago. More than 137,000 young Arizonans under the age of 29 have voted either by mail or in person, a 55% increase from the total number of ballots they cast in 2016, according to NextGen Arizona.

Arizona voters in their 30s have also already begun to vote in noticeably larger numbers. More than 149,000 of them have voted so far, surpassing total turnout for that age group in 2016 by 44%.

Just over 86.1 million ballots have already been cast nationwide—more than 62 percent of the overall turnout in 2016. Since about half of respondents in national polls have said that they planned to vote early, these totals appear to signal a remarkable increase in turnout across the board. As of Friday, Texas continues to be a stunner as more than nine million people have voted early, surpassing the state’s total 2016 turnout.

Click here for more on this story and head to arizona.vote to learn more about this year’s elections & how you can vote.

HHS Expands Relief Eligibility, Updates Reporting Requirements

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced that the latest Provider Relief Fund (PRF) application period has been expanded to include provider applicants such as behavioral health providers, emergency medical service providers, and podiatric medicine & surgery service providers that have not yet received PRF distributions.

These providers and all Phase 3 applicants will have until 11:59 p.m. EST on November 6, 2020, to submit their applications for payment consideration. Additionally, in response to concerns raised HHS is amending the reporting instructions to increase flexibility around how providers can apply PRF money toward lost revenues attributable to coronavirus.

Click here for more details on these developments, including the list of eligible providers.

ArMPAC Announces 2020 General Election Candidate Endorsements!

The Arizona Medical Political Action Committee (ArMPAC) is pleased to announce its 2020 general election candidate endorsements for Arizona’s State House of Representatives and Senate. Comprised of physicians across Arizona and led by an 18-member Board of Directors, ArMPAC is a nonpartisan political action committee that supports candidates for office who understand the challenges physicians face today.

“These candidates were thoroughly vetted by our diverse board and we are excited about their promising impact on healthcare in Arizona,” stated Gary Figge, MD, ArMPAC Board Chair. “As we approach Election Day and the 2021 Legislative Session soon after, it could not be more clear that Arizona’s physician and patient communities deserve strong and thoughtful voices in state government—and we believe that the candidates we have endorsed will be exactly that.”

2020 Incumbent Endorsements Include:

Arizona House of Representatives

• Speaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers — LD25
• Rep. Daniel Hernandez — LD2
• Rep. Alma Hernandez — LD3
• Rep. Charlene Fernandez – LD4
• Rep. Regina Cobb — LD5
• Rep. Randall “Randy” Friese, MD — LD9
• Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley — LD9
• Rep. Joanne Osborne — LD13
• Rep. Jeff Weninger — LD17
• Rep. Jennifer Pawlik – LD17
• Rep. Jennifer Jermaine – LD18
• Rep. Diego Espinoza — LD19
• Rep. Lorenzo Sierra — LD19
• Rep. John Kavanagh — LD23
• Rep. Amish Shah, MD — LD24
• Rep. Michelle Udall — LD25
• Rep. Kelli Butler — LD28
• Rep. Aaron Lieberman — LD28

Arizona Senate

• Sen. President Karen Fann — LD1
• Rep. Thomas “T. J.” Shope — LD8
• Sen. Victoria Steele — LD9
• Sen. Vince Leach — LD11
• Rep. Warren Petersen — LD12
• Sen. Sine Kerr — LD13
• Sen. JD Mesnard – LD17
• Sen. Sean Bowie — LD18
• Sen. Rick Gray — LD21
• Sen. Tyler Pace — LD25
• Sen. Rebecca Rios – LD27
• Sen. Kate Brophy McGee — LD28
• Sen. Tony Navarrete – LD30

New Candidate Endorsements Include:

Arizona House of Representatives

• Coral Evans — LD6
• Felipe Perez, MD — LD11
• Kathy Knecht — LD21

Click here to donate to ArMPAC and help elect these pro-physician candidates!

TOMMORROW: Help Shape ArMA’s Advocacy Agenda at Our Annual Advocacy Town Hall!

Join us virtually tomorrow from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and help shape ArMA’s 2021 advocacy agenda at the State Capitol! Share your healthcare-related policy concerns with us as we approach the 2021 Legislative Session — your input is more critical than ever, and this is a chance to give us your thoughts as we develop our policy and advocacy priorities.

This year’s Advocacy Town Hall will cover topics such as future scope of practice challenges, insurance issues, the impact of COVID-19, and more. No matter what your specialty is, we want to hear from YOU! Please RSVP today by clicking here.

We look forward to hearing from you at the Advocacy Town Hall. If you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to reach out to Meghan McCabe at mmccabe@azmed.org or Jon Amores at jamores@azmed.org. Thank you for your continued engagement and commitment to improving healthcare in Arizona.

Election Day Is Coming Fast—Join the VotER Project Today and Get Out the Vote!

We have less than two weeks until the voter registration deadline. Over 700 clinicians in Arizona are already using VotER to help folks register to vote. Take 30 seconds and download your own Democracy, STAT Toolbox right now to join them and help your patients, colleagues, and loved ones get ready for the election.

“VotER is a nonpartisan project led by physicians, for physicians. When we interact with patients, we have a unique opportunity to also strengthen the democratic process and improve the healthcare system, simply by registering people to vote. I encourage all physicians to use VotER – it’s easy and it makes a difference.”

—Dr. Ricardo Correa, ArMA Board of Directors