Dear Friends, The flurry of anti-secular, anti-democracy, anti-education, and anti-minority bills continues at the Legislature. We testified on a dozen such bills last week, which you can read about here. Here’s the short version of what’s going on: - About 70 bills have now been introduced this session by the majority party on “election reform” (read: voter suppression).
- We have flagged 14 anti-education and anti-democracy bills that would benefit Christian nationalists appearing in committee Monday and Tuesday of next week.
- The Christian nationalist “Pine Tree” flag is still flying in the State House. It has now been 15 days with no response to our letter to Speaker Bowers.
Now here’s the short version of what you can do about it: - If you are a Request to Speak user, sign in against the following anti-education and anti-democracy bills being heard Monday and Tuesday: SB1120; SB1036; SB1211; SB1326; SB1368; SB1374; HB2233; HB2025; HB2277; HB2279; HB2278; HB2290; HB2351; HB2352
- Make some noise about the Pine Tree flag: read and share our latest piece about this Christian nationalist symbol. Then call House Speaker Rusty Bowers at 602-926-3128 demanding its immediate removal.
- Get intersectional: join the email lists for our friends at SOS Arizona (public education advocates); Civic Engagement Beyond Voting (democracy advocates), and AZ Justice Alliance (civil rights). Each maintains a detailed breakdown of all bills in their respective wheelhouse, most of which intersect with the cause of secular government. They’ll be great resources to be plugged into in addition to Secular AZ so you can stay current on when action is needed. (Their most recent updates can be found here, here, and here.)
This week, we’ll continue to testify in committee on your behalf and will be working furiously with partners to strategize on major pieces of religious-based legislation coming up. We also will have some updates to share shortly about Secular Day at the Capitol on March 14th. The legislative roller coaster is just getting into gear. We're here to take the ride with you. In Solidarity, Jeanne Casteen Executive Director, Secular AZ | |
