Nearly every Republican who ran for office in 2024 touted “affordability” as one of their top priorities—but in Arizona, most are not keeping that promise to their constituents.
A collection of Democratic-backed bills that would have allowed more renters to buy their first home, ended prescription price-gouging, and required health insurance companies to provide the coverage promised to Arizonans are facing a roadblock: the Republican party.
The Arizona Legislature has a Republican majority—meaning that the party chairs and co-chairs every committee where bills are heard, and chooses what bills each committee gets to debate.
If a proposed bill doesn’t get assigned to a committee, it can’t be heard by lawmakers, won’t be eligible for a vote, and is essentially considered “dead,” meaning it likely won’t become law.
Little love for affordability agenda
Earlier this year, Democrats proposed a series of bills dubbed the “affordability agenda” that consisted of eight bills focused on lowering the costs of housing and prescription drugs, some proposed in both the House and Senate, that have all likely met their end this Legislative session.
The deadline to schedule bills to be heard in the House of Representatives was Feb. 21, and March 28 for the Senate. One of the affordability agenda’s bills wasn’t scheduled before the deadline and is effectively dead. The rest were assigned committees in early February but haven’t been scheduled for a hearing by committee chairs, making it unlikely they could go through the process to become law before the session ends.
Opportunity Arizona, an advocacy group that advocates for policy that improves the lives of Arizonans and fights for a future where every person has access to affordable healthcare and housing, has thrown their support behind the affordability agenda.
Carolina Quintero, digital media communications coordinator at Opportunity Arizona, said the Republican party is out of touch with the needs of what working Arizonans actually need.
“They’re failing to keep up with the campaign promises that elected them to their positions,” Quintero said.
The tax breaks for the wealthy that the Republican party keeps pushing for only harm Arizona’s tax base, or general fund, she said, even as they decrease the budget for essential programs—all while placing a burden on working Arizonans with higher taxes.
So, what does the ‘affordability agenda’ consist of?
Housing for Arizonans First Act: House Bill 2360
Status: Dead.
This law would prevent corporations from purchasing single-family homes until they’ve been on the market for 60 days, giving individuals and families a two-month window where they could shop for a home without the threat of corporate cash looming overhead.
Stop Corporate Homebuyers Act: House Bill 2848 | Senate Bill 1209
Status: Assigned committee, not on schedule.
Hedge funds and corporate landlords bought over 33,000 homes in 2021—or about 30% of all homes that went up for sale that year. This pair of bills would only allow corporate investors to purchase 100 housing units every calendar year, leaving thousands of properties available for Arizonans to purchase in a much less competitive market.
Affordable Medicine for All Act: Senate Bill 1403
Status: Assigned committee, not on schedule.
Would tailor state law after federal regulations for Medicaid and Medicare, and cap prescription costs to what has been determined to be the Maximum Fair Price–protecting Arizonans from obscene markups on prescription drugs.
Fair Claims Accountability Act: House Bill 2782 | Senate Bill 1397
Status: Assigned committee, not on schedule.
Would create a Healthcare Claims Consumer Assistance Program to help Arizonans navigate health insurance claims and ensure that companies don’t deny claims that are part of their coverage, and create civil penalties—and potential license revocation—for health insurance companies that “deny or insufficiently cover a valid insurance claim.”
Stop Price-Gouging Medication Act: House Bill 2757 | Senate Bill 1402
Status: Assigned committee, not on schedule.
If passed, off-patent or generic drug manufacturers and distributors would be prohibited from instituting “an unconscionable increase in the price of a prescription drug.” Any price increase would have to directly correspond with production and distribution costs. And for companies that are caught, the penalties are steep: a $10,000 fine for each violation.
Some of these bills, such as the Stop Corporate Homebuyers Act and Affordable Medicine For All Act have been introduced during multiple legislative sessions and have consistently met the same demise.
Who’s responsible?
The legislators responsible for scheduling these bills to be heard are:
Steve Montenegro, Speaker of the House
Arizona’s 29th Legislative District, West Valley
Jeff Weninger, Chair, House Commerce
Arizona’s 13th Legislative District, East Valley
Selina Bliss, Chair, House Health and Human Services
Arizona’s 1st Legislative District, Yavapai County
Warren Petersen, Senate President
Arizona’s 14th Legislative District, East Valley
Jake Hoffman, Chair, Senate Government Committee
Arizona’s 15th Legislative District, East Valley
Carine Werner, Chair, Senate Health and Human Services Committee
Arizona’s 4th Legislative District, North Valley
Every single one of these legislators named affordability, in some capacity, to be a top issue for their campaign—but they haven’t given these pieces of legislation a chance to even be debated.
READ MORE: The Legislature is ignoring 5 affordability proposals. Here’s how to make them pay attention.
So, what exactly are Republicans focusing on?
Only a few more weeks remain until the Legislative session’s scheduled end on April 22, and lawmakers have only passed 52 of the 1,804 bills introduced this year, putting them on track to be the least productive Legislature since the legislative website began tracking bills in 1991.
Of those 52 bills, Republicans have used their time at the capitol to pass legislation that would:
- Attempt to control students’ pronouns and bathroom usage in public schools.
- Restrict voting access for Arizonans.
- Give tax cuts to “aviation-related” transactions, i.e., private planes.
- Allocate $15.3 million of taxpayer dollars to a rodeo ground in Prescott.
- Allow people to bring their own alcohol onto golf courses.
- Give tax breaks to the wealthy by eliminating the cap for tax exemption on all personal property taxes.
- Give tax breaks to long term capital gains, helping investors who are already well off.
- Allow concealed carry weapons on college campuses.
- Mandate classroom instruction on the “Gulf of America.”
- Bring back the firing squad for capital punishment.
