Legislative District 2 in north Phoenix is pivotal to control of the state Senate.If incumbent Sen. Shawnna Bolick, a Republican, holds on to the seat she was appointed to, it strengthens GOP hopes of retaining the majority.Bolick faces a challenge from Rep. Judy Schwiebert, a Phoenix Democrat who has held one of the district’s two House seats for the last four years. She’s now aiming to unseat Bolick in a race where abortion policy plays a unique role.That’s because Bolick’s husband, Clint, is an associate justice on the Arizona Supreme Court. He was among the justices who found the state’s near-total abortion ban, dating from 1864, was enforceable. For his vote, Clint Bolick has been targeted by a campaign arguing he should not be retained on the court, but supported by advocates who argue a justice should not be removed for a ruling people may disagree with.The couple’s shared last name may cause confusion, with voters not discerning the justice from the senator.Although both Schwiebert and Sen. Bolick voted to repeal that near-total abortion ban in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, they differ in their stances on what Arizona’s law should say.Schwiebert supports the Arizona Abortion Access Act initiative, which would allow abortions up to viability, or about 23 weeks. Bolick supports the state’s 15-week ban, which is the current law. She was a co-sponsor of the 2022 legislation that created the 15-week limit.The Arizona Republic asked each candidate questions about several key issues. Here are the answers, which may have been slightly edited for clarity and brevity.What could the Legislature be doing better to improve the economy for Arizonans?Bolick: I have worked to ensure our small businesses are not over-regulated and our taxes are low. As job creators, our small businesses are the backbone to a thriving economy. In 2019, I spearheaded a bill to reduce food costs and prevent taxes on groceries. In 2022, I led the effort to remove the residential rental tax. Each of these bills were written by my constituents who wanted relief because they were on fixed incomes. Each year I have been at the Capitol our K-12 public school system has received funding to help our students better compete in our changing economy. We have successfully passed legislation to improve our workforce development programs offered in our career and technical education courses as well as in our community colleges. With TSMC being built adjacent to my legislative district, we are going to need to keep up with affordable housing demands. This past legislative session, I supported every bill to keep the cost of building new homes low and affordable, and that set timeframes for homeowners to have their plans approved by local authorities.Schwiebert: I very much share my neighbors’ concerns about the high cost of living in Arizona. We must address the skyrocketing cost of housing. Rents have increased by 72% since 2010, and the median price of homes increased by 57% over the past four years. Mobile home owners on fixed incomes are facing skyrocketing lot fees as well. Legislative action should include allowing cities to incentivize builders to construct affordable housing — and allowing them to regulate short-term rentals often owned by Wall Street investors who are driving up prices. We should also focus on reducing healthcare costs, starting by capping prescription drug prices for all Arizonans at the federally negotiated Medicare rate. Affordable childcare is also vital to a strong economy. The US/Arizona Chamber estimates Arizona’s economy loses $1.77 Billion annually due to childcare issues. The state should partner with business leaders and non-profit groups to create solutions to the enormous impact the lack of childcare has on our families, businesses, and state economy.Ultimately, though, to create the strong, educated workforce that we all need for a thriving economy, the legislature must properly fund public education — K-12 through community colleges, universities and other job training opportunities. Do you believe the state should slow its pumping and use of groundwater and what, if anything, should Arizona do to augment the state’s supply of water? Bolick: Arizona should have never allowed a foreign operator to come into La Paz County and pump unlimited amounts of groundwater. The first bill I voted for was the Drought Contingency Plan, legislation that required timely Congressional action to ensure water rights stayed in Arizona. I voted to invest more than $1 billion to preserve water supplies across Arizona via the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority. Both of these issues were bipartisan and I am committed to working with both parties to find solutions to the challenges facing our community.I’ve toured Scottsdale’s Water Campus and visited Yuma to learn how they have been able to conserve water over the years through different irrigation methods and new technologies. It is imperative that cities continue to collaborate with one another to work on solutions impacting future generations. It is also important to look at places like Israel to see how Arizona can learn to conserve its limited water supply better.The future of Arizona’s water supply isn’t one-size-fits-all. I look forward to continuing to meet with stakeholders representing our 15 counties next session to work on additional solutions.Schwiebert: Water is life, so given Arizona’s current long-term drought, we must take responsible action to secure our future. I was glad to see AG Mayes and Governor Hobbs begin to reduce former Gov Ducey’s agreement with the Saudis to pump unlimited groundwater to grow alfalfa for their livestock in the Middle East. That’s definitely the kind of pumping we should be reducing.But we must all be mindful. Farmers could be incentivized to create more efficient watering systems, and city-dwellers incentivized to use more water-efficient practices. We must close loopholes that allow wildcat developers to skirt requirements, and rural areas should be allowed to protect themselves from big international corporations that dig deeper wells and suck the water supply out from under longtime residents. Some legislators favor pumping water in from Mexico or elsewhere, which will be massively expensive — and take decades. That may well be needed. In the meantime, we should also invest in the kind of water purification technology already producing clean drinking water in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Fundamentally, we must act to create policies that protect Arizonans, keeping people first in line for our water supply, not big international corporations.If you could address only one environmental factor as a lawmaker, what would it be?Bolick: As a state lawmaker, I am invested in working on common sense water policy and conservation and preservation issues. I view the current flow of laced fentanyl pouring across our open border to be the most negative environmental factor impacting the safety of our communities. When my daughter graduated last year from her public district high school, families were prepared to celebrate the seniors of her graduating class. Sadly, Senior Awards Night was delayed nearly two hours because a student had OD’d on fentanyl, and the staff needed to clear the performing arts center where we were all seated to quickly administer Narcan to this student. Thankfully, the student survived, but it could’ve been a deadly outcome. Schwiebert: Arizona needs to have a plan for how we’re going to address the impacts of climate change. If we want to save lives, we have to invest in cooling down our communities, provide temporary respite from extreme heat, address increased fire danger and protect our water. Even if we stop burning fossil fuels tomorrow, we’re still going to feel the effects of climate change for years to come.While I applaud the Governor’s Office of Resiliency that’s working on programs funded by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to address climate change, our state needs to create our own plan that’s right for us. A bill from Senator Engel a few years ago proposed a state climate resiliency program requiring agencies to work together. Whether it’s water, air, or wildlife, we need to be looking at how we can better adapt and address what is already happening. Instead, the majority passed several bills that prohibit any state agency from doing anything to measure or reduce greenhouse gasses without explicit permission from the legislature. We need to repeal these barriers to addressing the impacts of climate change and the many prohibitions that prevent local governments closest to the problems from taking action. What is your view on local control of zoning and permitting policies when it comes to addressing housing affordability? What other ideas do you support to make housing affordable?Bolick: This past legislative session I supported every piece of legislation addressing housing affordability and the urgent need for our local governing authorities to stop sitting on approving building permits for months to years on end. Investors and builders have precise timetables to be approved so they can meet our local housing demands, but if they must wait months to get a greenlight from the local zoning authority, those higher costs and delays will be passed onto the consumer. The legislature created such a strong pro-business climate under Governor Ducey’s leadership attracting new employers, investors and job creators from out-of-state, driving up housing prices due to a limited supply. We weren’t ready for the influx of new residents to compete for housing.Schwiebert: In recent years, the Republican majority in the Arizona legislature has too often prohibited cities from taking the action they need to help their communities thrive. For the most part, the legislature needs to allow the local governments closest to the problem to lead. We should preserve as much local control as possible while ensuring collaboration with the state government when issues arise that are of statewide concern.For example, I was proud to help pass bills this past year where the cities and state were able to collaborate. HB2297 allowed for adaptive reuse of commercial buildings for residential use and HB2721 helped fill the need for “missing middle” housing, allowing for more duplexes and triplexes that cost less to build. On the other hand, the Arizona legislature has made our state only one of seven that prohibit local governments from enacting mandatory inclusionary zoning on housing that would be rented or sold at an affordable rate. The state legislature also currently prohibits any rent stabilization by cities, and prohibits them from adopting any limits on short-term rentals as well. We need to repeal these kinds of prohibitions to give cities the local control they need.Does Arizona’s universal voucher program need any limitations, and if so, why? Outline what, if anything, you would advocate for the program.Bolick: This past legislative session I supported adding background checks on vendors who participate in the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) program. This law was signed by the governor, and became effective on Sept. 14. The most common problem I am currently hearing from my constituents is how the current Attorney General is making the Superintendent delay reimbursements for books and other supplies for ESAs that had been approved in the past. One parent who happened to also teach before staying home to educate her young children contacted me. She said she homeschools her children and this change is taking away time she would rather educate her children to comply with this rule change. Thankfully, Arizona is home to so many educational options. Many newcomers to our state have shared with me that they really like having so many options to educate their children. As a proponent of Arizona’s plethora of school choice options and whose own children attended Arizona’s public schools, I am thankful my kids could thrive in the setting they chose to best meet their needs. Competition across all these educational options will make our children better prepared for the workforce.Schwiebert: The universal ESA voucher program was sold as primarily for low-income children. Instead, the vast majority of the almost $1 Billion that taxpayers gave away in vouchers last year went to families already sending their children to private schools. Arizona taxpayers cannot afford to continue this practice unabated. The cost of this one program leaves our state with inadequate revenue to properly fund the public schools chosen by 90% of Arizona families and address our critical housing, healthcare and infrastructure needs. Arizona parents have long had the freedom to choose any district, charter, home or private school. But any school receiving taxpayer dollars should report how those dollars are being spent.It’s important to protect the original intent of vouchers to provide special needs students with the support they need. We should ensure they cannot be rejected because of their disability after they’ve submitted their voucher. The universal program needs guardrails to stop abuses like the purchase of dune buggies on the taxpayers’ dime, and also to ensure student safety. Parents should always be free to choose the right school for their family. But if that school doesn’t provide basic safety, transparency, and accountability, taxpayers should not be expected to pay for it.Who are you backing for president?Bolick: I am voting for a change in the current White House by supporting Trump. Under the Biden-Harris administration, we have seen sky high inflation and more crime impacting our communities. These Biden-Harris policies are failing Arizona and how our state maintains its prosperity and security. The Arizona state legislature has passed many bills over the past few years to counter some of these failed federal government policies, including a few of my bills to counter human and child sex trafficking, hundreds of millions in investments for our law enforcement along the border to secure our open border, counter cartels and transnational gangs infiltrating our state, and countering the illicit supply of fentanyl harming our children, to just name a few.When I talk with voters in north Phoenix, they want to feel safe, again, and I completely agree!Schwiebert: I’m backing Vice President Kamala Harris for President. Reach the reporter at maryjo.pitzl@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl.Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
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